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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24585289">What Goes on in Neo City, Stays in Neo City</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MmmmCherries/pseuds/MmmmCherries'>MmmmCherries</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Elemental Magic, M/M, Profile Fic, Supernatural Elements, Trigger warnings at some point, Will update tags as story continues, a lot of swearing so fair warning, angst (with a question mark)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:48:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>328,552</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24585289</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MmmmCherries/pseuds/MmmmCherries</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Neo City, the city hidden away from the human world. The place where supernaturals such as vampires, werewolves, faes, and more exist. They haven't had a single human come to their city as humans don't even know this place exists. </p><p>Well, Renjun actually broke that record and now goes to the world's supernatural only University, but we're not going to talk about that. </p><p>Join Renjun, Jaemin, Donghyuck, Jeno, Mark, Chenle, and Jisung as live their lives as citizens of Neo City! </p><p>This is a profile fic. If you are curious as to see what that means, go ahead and click!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Huang Ren Jun/Na Jaemin, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, markhyuck is a side ship - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>187</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Note #1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi guys! Thank you so much for clicking on this story! This series is my baby and I am so happy it gets to be on a03. Just a little note, please read the petition list I have posted for resources and ways to help the Black Lives Matter movement. I am updating the petition list as the movement goes on so that many people can sign them as well. </p><p>Once again thank you for choosing to read this fic!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As you have read from the description, this fic is what I like to call a "profile fic." Profile fics essentially focuses on elements of the story such as locations, characters, and concepts instead of the plot. I find it a little... boring to write only the plot and dialogue and also don't really like mapping them out (*gasp* what kind of writer am I???). This is just a way to make writing fun and to get ideas out of my head and plan them out ^^.  I am planning to write actual plot however but it won't really start until I get through the profiles of the locations and main characters, which in this case are NCT Dream. Please know when I do get to the plot, the story will be updated a bit more slowly because as I said before for me personally, writing out plot is a bit boring to me and I get guilty when I don't find the motivation to update the story for a long ass time (though I do write my chapters in advance). If you don't like the idea of this then it is perfectly fine for you to read another story. I don't want to force you to read something you don't want to read. If you are a bit interested and curious to see how this will turn out then go ahead and go to the next chapter! </p><p>Thanks for reading! - MmmCherries</p><p>
  <b>EDIT!!</b>
</p><p>The first chapter of the actual plot is up! If you want to skip ahead and read the plot go ahead! However, I warn that you will miss a lot of information for not reading the POV chapters! </p><p>Once again, thanks for reading!</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Neo University</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>What is Neo University?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey you chose to read it! Thank you very much! </p><p>I have already wrote the profile chapters in advance, so they will be updated quickly. Thank you for giving this series a chance! </p><p>Once again, please go check out the petition list if you haven't already, and go out and research more petitions and other resources you can use for the movement! </p><p>Once again thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>December 28th, 2016</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Dear, Huang Renjun, </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Congratulations! You have been accepted into Neo University! We are very excited to have you join our student population and what you will do in the future!...</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Neo University is a strange college. It's not a college that is recognized for it's science or law programs nor is it a college like Harvard or Yale. It's your typical school that leans more towards liberal arts then STEM, yet it is very-</p><p>and I mean VERY hard to get in. </p><p>The required things for admission is very simple. At least a 1100 on your SAT or a 25 on your ACT,  an average of 3.0 gpa, some extracurricular actives here and there, an interview, an essay, and a application. It's simple right? How come no one ever gets in? </p><p>In comes Huang Renjun, a regular student from the small province of Jilin, China. </p><p>Renjun is a snarky boy who is bilingual in both Korean and Chinese. He has average grades, lowest maybe around 80%. He wants to become an botany major with art as his minor because of his fascination of plants and the want to draw them. Renjun has like one or two after school activities which to him don't really matter when it comes to applying to university. </p><p>Renjun is a average dude, yet somehow he got into Neo University. </p><p>Everyone was amazed. The semi quiet kid in the class, the one who was maybe 75th place in a grade of 300 students, got into the university that not even the kid who got first place could get into.  </p><p>"What did you get on your SAT?" </p><p>"What do you do after school again?" </p><p>"Do you have a relative who works there or something?" </p><p>"I am so confused, I got a 1350 on my SAT are the scores supposed to be higher??" </p><p>No one knew how he got in. His friends, teachers, not even his parents knew how he got into Korea's- no the WORLD'S hardest get-into university. </p><p>Renjun knows how he got in though.</p><p>Yes, the admission requirements are very simple to follow. However, one must have something to get in. One must BE something to be part of Neo University's student population. When people ask all the questions about the SAT or his after school activities, Renjun just smiles kindly and shrugs his shoulders acting as if he didn't know how he got in. </p><p>Cause what he has is something he cannot tell. It is also something that is very difficult to acquire. </p><p> </p><p>
  <i>As you know Neo University is very different compared to other colleges. The class system are the same, but the people are not. I am happy to say that you are our first human to attend Neo University and I am sure you will do just fine in our school! We will like you to come a week before school starts to get you prepared and ready for the world that is Neo City. We will also give you a tour around campus and help you settle into your dorm. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Once again congratulations and we will see you here in Neo City :)"</i>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <i>Neo University Dean,</i>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <i>Lee Jieun </i>
</p><p>.</p><p> </p><p>Neo University is a school created for the rising generation of Neo City.</p><p> </p><p>The students are also not human.</p><p>There are many types of mythical creatures and monsters that go to this university. From fae to vampires, all sorts of species are accepted by Neo. With the exception of humans of course. </p><p>Because humans are mean and we don't like them :(</p><p>The only way candidates from outside of Neo City can get in is to take a small test to prove that they are not human or at least a human that is different. Any non human would see that this test is very obvious in trying to test them but for human beings, it was one small step that they believe was easy enough to pass but actually end up failing. </p><p>Renjun is a special case. He has magical abilities that a normal witch or wizard would have. The interesting thing about him is that he doesn't have any magical blood in him. In fact no one in his family have the same abilities as he does. Therefore, with the small test he took in order to prove he is not a normal human being and with his on par requirements Renjun was able to get into the famous Neo University and became the first human student changing Neo City history.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>And as he walks out of the airport he looks at the Incheon sun and smiles. </p><p>"My adventure begins right now."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Crossposted on Quotev</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Huang Renjun</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Huang Renjun the Human</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>You're back! Thank you so much for tuning in! </p><p>Just a reminder to look at the petitions list for Black Lives Matter on dashboard. I've added a few more petitions plus some carrds you can go to for more resources! </p><p>Once again thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Now let me tell you about Huang Renjun. He is the main character of this fic after all. </p><p>Born and raised in Jilin, China, Renjun is a snarky know it all. </p><p>He has an older brother who is just as sassy as he is. He has two friends, one that is a year older and one that is the same age as he is. Being born in a province so close to Korea, Renjun can speak both Chinese and Korean fluently making his big brain energy even bigger. </p><p>Oh he also has powers. </p><p>Renjun himself doesn't really know where they came from. One day when Renjun was in his second year of middle school, he was just playing catch with his brother. At first they were throwing around a baseball. The baseball turned into a soccer ball, and the soccer ball turned into a balloon, then it turned into their grandmother's sphere vase. </p><p>As you can see they were very bored. </p><p>So bored to the point they started to yeet the vase to each other until his brother lost grip of it. </p><p>In slow motion, Renjun watched as the vase slipped out of his brothers hands. He managed to run to the vase to catch it. Renjun brought his hands out when the vase stopped in mid air. </p><p>The brothers froze.</p><p>They watch it waver above Renjun's hands in a purple cloud then ever so slowly descend down into his tiny hands. </p><p>Both of them didn't say a word. </p><p>Renjun quietly gets the vase, walks into the house with his brother, puts it back, then proceeds to walk with his brother into their room. </p><p>He close the door, locks it then turns to face his gege. </p><p>"D-did I do that?" he stutters pointing two hesitant fingers (one on each hand) to himself. Sicheng, Renjun's brother, nods carrying the same expression on his face as his brother's. </p><p>They didn't believe at first so, they tested out whatever Renjun had done to other things. He failed to make them hover like what he did with the vase so they just called it a day and pushed the vase incident to the side. </p><p>Until the next day when Renjun's dog runs into a small table in front of the family TV. </p><p>"GOUGOU NO!" </p><p>It happens again. Renjun's open palms faces the bowl of chips he was eating. The chips are frozen in mid air in the same purple cloud the vase was in the other day. The young boy closes his eyes and exhales. "Ok, this is obviously because of my instincts or something so if I focus hard enough I should be able to move the bowl back on the table."</p><p>He moved the bowl back onto the table, but not the chips. It flipped upside down spilling the chips all over the table and the floor. "frick, Gougou don't eat those!" Right as he says that, Sicheng, who has just arrived from school, opens the door to see his little brother playing tug of war with his dog using chips. His eyes move towards the big mess and the cracked bowl sitting upside down on the table. "Gege! Let's talk yeah?" </p><p>Both of them didn't sleep that night. Being the supernatural geeks they are, they spend the rest of the night researching different articles, books, and websites to find answers. At around 4:56 AM, Sicheng finds a article written by a professor of Neo University. "It's blocked, I can't get to it." The title was compelling though. "The Behaviors of a Beginner Wizard" a thesis written by Professor Qian Kun. It had information AND it was written in Chinese. "Oh no I am NOT giving up just because of some internet shield. Check if safety search is on" It was off. "Try check the child lock restrictions?" There weren't any child locks. "Renjun it's almost 5 let's go to bed" Sicheng says softly. Renjun wanted to argue, but his brain was fried after searching through books and papers written by obvious delulu fanboys. "Fine, but we will continue in the morning!" </p><p>The next day after waking up, Renjun goes straight to his brother's computer. He wanted to take advantage of his three day weekend. No homework was as important as floating vases and chip bowls. For the next hour, Renjun stares at the title of the thesis as it mocks him. "haha! I have all of the answers you need, but you can't get them!" it's saying to him. "No! I am not leaving you! I will find answers!" He leaves the computer (ironic I know) and searches through the infinite amount of books he and his brother share. "There has to be something!" There wasn't anything, but Renjun decides to go to the library. He bookmarks the tab, grabs his phone, a jacket, and his house keys, and goes downstairs. "Dad! I'm gonna go to the library real quick!" he yells and receives a "ok" back from upstairs. "Oh! Wait! Take the dog on a walk while you're out!" Renjun is in mid step out the door when he turns to see his dog holding her leash in her mouth. He sighs and attaches the leash anyway. "Help me find the book Gougou and I'll give you a treat!" </p><p>It's a strange sight seeing a dog in a library. It's a even stranger sight when her owner keeps bringing books for her to sniff. "Not this one? Dang thought it would be the one!" At this point, Renjun lost half of his brain cells from thinking so much. Luckily, Renjun is close to the librarian so he was allowed to sneak his dog in. He was also lucky enough for the fact that there weren't that many people staring at him shoving a book up his dog's nose. They managed to finish a whole shelf of supernatural books when his dog gets up and starts walking towards something. "Gougou wait!" Renjun whispers and follows her. Gougou walks towards a certain aisle and stops in the mythical creatures section. "Of course! How come I never thought of that! Good girl! Remind me to make you cookies when we get home."  Renjun looks up and his eyes lay on a thick gray book. It doesn't seem like a fairy tale storybook as all of them were brightly colored and/or meant for children. He stares at it for a while as if he was in a trance, then slowly takes it out from the shelf. He brushes off the dust on the cover and reads the title out loud quietly. "Neo City." Renjun looks at his dog. "Two cookies, remind me ok?" </p><p>"Woah this is a thick book. With three C's" Sicheng says. He pushes away his homework and allows Renjun to put the book on his desk. "I don't know what's up with this book but something about is... bewitching." Renjun says not taking his eyes off of the front cover. Gougou walks in and climbs up onto Renjun's bed. She lays down and watches them from afar, keeping a particular eye on Renjun. "Ok, you're freaking me out let's just open it up shall we?" Sicheng asks, a little concerned. Renjun snaps out of his trance and nods. They open the book to the prologue. </p><p><i>Neo City is a small part of the Gyeonggido Province of South Korea. It is hidden to the human eye and is barely on human maps. Only some are able to see its existence. It is not in Seoul, but it is not far from it. Only those who are different are able to see it. In this book, you will get to learn about these people and the city they live in. Their lifestyle, how they live, how they interact with not only with each other but with humans outside of Neo City. If you are able to read this book-</i> </p><p>"I don't get it how are you able to read this" Renjun looks up from the book. "Huh? What do you mean?" Sicheng squints at the page as if he was unsure. "The page is blank, where are these words coming from?" Renjun tilts his head at his brother then continues reading. </p><p><i>If you are able to read this book, you are not human. You are different. If you are human, then you must have some special abilities.</i> </p><p>Renjun and Sicheng stay silent. They check the door if it is locked then look at each other. "I-I don't think I'm allowed to read this with you" Sicheng says getting up to leave. Gougou gets up from the bed and blocks Sicheng. "Gougou doesn't want you to leave, and so do I. Even if you can't see it, I want you to help me gege." Sicheng looks at Renjun then at his dog. He sighs and trots back to the desk. "Ok, but if I don't get back to my homework by like 10 you're dead meat." </p><p>From then on, Renjun uses the book as a guide. He didn't have to return the book because the library never knew it existed. He learns it only appears to people with special skills. According to the book Renjun has the power of stopping an object from moving. Telekinesis one may say. Years go on and he develops new abilities such a shield, stopping bigger items, and creating potions from flowers he created from spells. With Sicheng and Gougou on his side, he learns how to control his powers, when to use them, and how to use them. He has a secret spot in his part of his room for potion making and flower growth and keeps it hidden from his parents. It grows to Sicheng's side of the room once he moved out for university leaving the room to Renjun alone. College entrance exams comes along and he decides to try for Neo University. "If you get in, you're gonna be in a city filled with non-humans by yourself, doesn't that seem a little dangerous to you?" Sicheng says over the phone. Renjun, in the middle of growing a flower to make a certain potion a fellow wizard needed a few blocks down, shrugs not realizing his brother can't see him. "It'll be good right? That way I can learn more potion making and how to use my powers for good." He replies. The bright pink flower sprouts out. It stops midway telling Renjun that it wants to grow more slowly. He puts the pot on a window sill and sits on his bed. "Yeah it'll be good, but I'm worried that you might get hurt. You don't know that there may be some rouge werewolves or vampires lurking around there." </p><p>"Aweee my gege is worried for his wittle brother?" </p><p>"Shut up you dimwit this is serious" </p><p>Renjun stops giggling and thinks for a moment. Sicheng has a point. Neo City is not like Jilin, or any other city on Earth for that matter. It's filled with non-humans who think and act faster then Renjun and are much more stronger then him. He looks at Gougou sniffing the bright pink flower he made then backing away when the flower shrinks. Renjun sighs and gets up. He pats Gougou on the head telling her to go to bed and pours a potion on the flower. The flower grows back to its original height and glimmers proudly from the moonlight. If there are ways Renjun can become more skilled, which there are, he should go for it right? It's not like they would accept him anyway, he's still a human, but a human with wicked potion making skills. "I should at least try. Can't give up an opportunity to learn more of what I want to do right?" Renjun finally replies. Sicheng chuckles then sends his blessing. After hanging up, Renjun goes to his passed down computer and searches "Neo University". He looks at the pink flower then at his desktop and clicks "Apply."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Neo City</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The city that is Neo City</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey guys! Thank you so much for coming back to read again! </p>
<p>Once again, I will like you to go to the petitions for Black Lives Matter and other movements work on my dashboard. We gotta keep the public's attention on this matter for as long as we can, so keep spreading awareness!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>With one luggage carrier in one hand, his phone in the other, and a backpack on his shoulders, Renjun smiles at the bright Incheon sun. He can't feel satisfied just yet though, he's not in Neo City. Renjun looks around him looking for some kind of sign. Something telling him where Neo City is. He can't ask a person. First of all he needs to keep Neo City a secret because that's what he promised. Only close people like Sicheng were allowed to visit him in Neo City, but can't stay for too long. Also, they won't know where Neo City is. It's strange how people know what Neo University is, but not where it is. Probably because it's a challenge to get into and people want to try it out for fun. They don't really take it seriously when applying which Renjun thinks is another reason why humans are not allowed. Because they can't take the supernatural seriously. </p>
<p>A bell chime interrupts his thoughts. It was pretty loud to Renjun, but no one seems to be bothered. The bell chimes again. Right in front of him were two people, one woman and one man smiling at him. "Huang Renjun?" the woman asks. Renjun hesitantly nods his head. "It is so nice to finally meet you! I'm Neo University's dean Lee Jieun and this is Professor Qian Kun of the elemental magic department" Dean Lee says. Renjun's eyes widen. Not because they appeared in front of him, but because Dean Lee said the word "magic" pretty loudly. "Oh don't worry, people can't hear us. They know we're here, but they can't really make out the conversation we are having right now" the man, Professor Qian, says with a kind smile. Dean Lee tells Renjun to come follow and they walk away from the bustling Incheon Airport. </p>
<p>Neo City is indeed hidden from the human eye. To get there, one must go through a portal. The portal can be accessed through any transparent object like a mirror or a window of a store. It's better if they can go through the object privately and not in public. If they go through the object in public, they gotta do it fast or put a time stop on human time. Once the person gets through though, they step into a world that is similar to where they originally were, but is also completely different. </p>
<p>The city has four districts. The first district is District 127, which is the New York of the city. Skyscrapers towering high as the sky, streets filled with cars and stream ways for merpersons. Fairies zooming fast past people's heads. Giants in their own stores looking for the clothes of their own choice. Werewolves in the nearest Starbucks gossiping about the latest tea in their pack. Department stores and restaurants left and right and office workers rushing back to work from their lunch break.</p>
<p>"Here you can hang out with your friends in all of the selection of restaurants and stores" Dean Lee says showing Renjun the newest and most popular places to hang out for people his age. "The university is in this district, but we can show you the other ones. Let's go through Cherry park." </p>
<p>The district right next to District 127 is District U which is a bit more aged then its busy counterpart. It still looks similar to District 127, but more quieter. A river runs next to the park, a transportation method for water fae and merfolk. Suburban houses and small mall outlets line the streets with Neo City's most popular street markets which become alive at night. </p>
<p>"It may look quiet now, but once you come here at night man is the district beautiful." Professor Qian mentions. Renjun can believe it. He sees fairy lights decorating the street market and can only imagine how beautiful it must look. "This is also where our city's official high school is and it is right over there" Dean Lee says pointing to a school behind the array of houses. "I'm jealous, I wish my high school had this beautiful view." Renjun thinks out loud. Dean Lee and Professor Qian chuckle and proceed to go down in the park to the District Dream. </p>
<p>The District Dream is very different from the other two districts. It is less of a city and more of a beach town. Ocean waves can be heard in the distance and the smell of it wacks you in the face as soon as you step foot out of the park. Shopping outlets and hotels gather in one area near the beach with smooth pavements and roads. Tourists alike walk through the busy street laughing and smiling. Near the beach, houses spot the coast with families enjoying their afternoon with each other and the sun. </p>
<p>"The ice cream is so good here you have to try it!" Dean Lee says. Renjun turns and sees a little ice cream cart set up by a Pegasus hybrid who is selling her cones with a smile and her wings spread proudly. "We can come back for a lick another time, but we gotta show you the last district first!" Professor Qian laughs. Dean Lee pouts, but gleams immediately. "Come on!" </p>
<p>The last district is District V. Being made by Chinese immigrants who came to Korea a long time ago, the district looks like the streets of Beijing. With its busy street, not only Chinese, but Thai, Vietnamese, Singaporean, and other Southeastern cuisine fills the air with its scent. Architecture reminiscent of Chinese palaces cover the buildings. A mix of Asian languages are heard left to right.</p>
<p>This shocks Renjun and makes him feel more at ease. "Ah yes my home district, you're from Jilin right? Well if you ever get homesick you can come here and have some pastries." Professor Qian says with a calm smile reminding Renjun of his brother. Now he feels like crying. He can't cry just yet, because he hasn't seen his school yet. Renjun puffs up and smiles. "Yup, if my brother ever comes to visit I think I'll bring him here." It'll be for a short time, but it'll give Renjun the family time he might need later in the school year. </p>
<p>Cherry park, the park that sits in the middle of the city is more like a forest. With the trees and flowers grown by local nature fae and wizards, the park is Neo City's own Central Park. With a fountain in the middle and a massive playground for kids it's a beautiful place to walk through or to hold a picnic. Bridges connecting the districts have roads and a sidewalk for people to drive on or walk. </p>
<p>Sooner or later, the three end up back in District 127. They walk past the shopping malls and the restaurants and end up at a massive campus with a stone sign welcoming them. </p>
<p>
                                       <i>NEO UNIVERSITY</i>
</p>
<p>
                                 <i>School for the next generation of mythical and legendary</i>
</p>
<p>
                                       <i>est. 1922</i>
</p>
<p>"Welcome Renjun to Neo University!" Dean Lee and Professor Qian say in unison. </p>
<p>Renjun looks up at awe at the towering buildings. He has looked at pictures and a map online, but he didn't realize the campus was THIS big. </p>
<p>There is a fountain that is similar to the one in the park that sits in the middle of campus. Behind it is the main building that holds admission and the auditorium. To the left are the mythical and legendary classes. Magic, strength and speed honing, elemental growth, you name it it's a major. To the right are regular classes. Film, psychology, law, biology, business, it's all there. Behind the main building are all of the dorms. Apartment buildings scatter on a hill with a cafeteria, a library, and gym with a pool right below it. </p>
<p>Renjun couldn't believe it. He's finally here, and he cannot wait to get started.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hate how archive makes you use HTML code for your stories T^T</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Lee Donghyuck</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lee Donghyuck the Merman</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Huhuhu, I'm back lol. </p><p>Enjoy! </p><p>Remember to keep fighting for Black Lives Matter and other movements!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><i>SPLASH!!</i> Renjun wipes off the water on his face and glares at the merman in the pool below him. "What? You can't just come in here and not expect a merperson to splash you during practice." A whistle blows. The merman turns and then smiles at Renjun. "Sit at the chair and watch me!" he says and swims away to the other side of the pool. Renjun sighs but goes to sit anyway. He finds a table next to the pool and watches the merman listen to instructions from his coach.</p><p>.</p><p>Lee Donghyuck is a merman if you didn't know and is the first person Renjun has met in Neo University.</p><p> </p><p>Lee Donghyuck, or "Haechan" as everyone calls him, is a ecstatic child, the embodiment of chaotic evil.</p><p>  </p><p>Merpeople are known to be either very hyper or very quiet (not stereotyping, but... that's what everyone thinks). Donghyuck is on the more hyper side of merfolk. With his loud laughs and sassy jokes, the merman is the perfect friend for Renjun. He reminds him of Yangyang, who is a bit like him but more calm.</p><p>  </p><p>Renjun had first met Donghyuck in a elements class.</p><p>  </p><p>As a elemental spells major (apparently there's no astronomy major which made Renjun very kinda sad. He's still a art minor though), and as he is in his freshman year Renjun needed to learn the basics of elements. No magic yet though cause... Renjun doesn't know THAT much.</p><p>  </p><p>He also got to admit, supernatural people do scare him a bit.</p><p>  </p><p>Right as he walked into the Hall of Magic, everyone stopped and stared at him. Like full on pause, turn, stare.</p><p>  </p><p>It's normal for supernatural people to have heighten senses. They know what comes at them and when it comes. They also are aware of the new human student that is now attending classes at a all creature university. Renjun shouldn't be surprised at the staring, but is anyways. He takes a deep breath and walks to his class.</p><p>    </p><p>When he finally gets to his class (which is at the end of the hall making it very awkward for Renjun to walk through the stares of his fellow students), Renjun opens the door quickly and lets go of his breath. When he turns around he sees his classmates staring at him. Like how the people outside had done.</p><p>  </p><p>Renjun is starting to think they don't have humans in the city very much. Well, that's a given fact.</p><p>  </p><p>His classmates watch him walk up the stairs to the only seat available. When he sits down, they stop and resume their conversations. Renjun lets go of another breath and takes out his textbook and laptop when he feels another presence staring at him.</p><p>  </p><p>"Oh my goodness, do these people not know how to interact with humans or something?" Renjun whispers to himself in Chinese as he turns to a person right next to him.</p><p>  </p><p>The person has fluffy brown hair, and is wearing a long white shirt with grey shorts. He has a necklace with one sole seashell around his neck, and moles one right under his left eye and one on his neck.</p><p>  </p><p>He also has big eyes which are scaring the hell out of Renjun.</p><p>  </p><p>"H-hi?" he says, and the boy makes a surprised face. "Oh! He talks!" he exclaims and turns back to the front.</p><p>  </p><p>"What the f-"</p><p>  </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun later learns the boy's name is Donghyuck and he is a merman.</p><p>  </p><p>Originally from District Dream, Donghyuck came to Neo University to also be elemental spells major but specializing in water of course. He is also on the competitive swim team, where he uses his merman tail to his advantage. "I know it's basically cheating, but our team is mostly made up of merfolk anyway." he explains one day when Renjun asks about it.</p><p>  </p><p>Donghyuck is also one hell of a singer. Being a music minor, he is also part of the school's theater club and practically lives in the auditorium. Renjun has always went to see his plays because his singing is memorizing. Donghyuck also has a YouTube channel named "HaebitHyuck" (Sunlight Hyuck) which is a confusing mixture of covers, original songs, vlogs, pranks, skits, and makeup. Pretty much if Edward Avila, Nigahiga, and Suggi had a baby. When Renjun visited his dorm for the first time, his room was filled with camera equipment, microphones, a wall with sound foam, and a box filled with prank and skit items that says "Jeno you don't need or want to touch this." Jeno, Donghyuck's roomate, just shrugged with Renjun asked him about the box and continued to read his book.</p><p>  </p><p>Renjun has a funny episode about Donghyuck.</p><p>  </p><p>It was the summer after his freshman year. Renjun just came back from visiting his family in Jilin and is sitting in Donghyuck's room on his bed as Donghyuck is filming a makeup video.</p><p>  </p><p>"This shade is kind of a light yellow and a bit more pigmented then the last one, but hey a boi's gotta use what he needs to use right?"</p><p>  </p><p>As Donghyuck is finishing up his eyeshadow, his phone rings in the background. "Oh my phone! Renjun sweaty can you get that for me?" Renjun groans but picks up anyway. Without really looking at the caller ID, he answers the phone. "Hello-" "HYUCK HELLO IS THAT YOU?" Renjun takes the phone away from his ear. "No, it's Renjun, Hyuck is filiming a video right now" Renjun replies back. "Oh, hi Renjun!" the caller, who Renjun recognizes as Jeno, says more calmly. "Is there anything that I, Lee freaking Donghyuck's personal secretary, can do you for you as he dabs a bunch of eye shadow on his eyelids." Renjun retorts. Donghyuck snorts half heartily and rolls his eyes. "Don't you guys love the love my best friend gives me?" Renjun also rolls his eyes and turns his back to Donghyuck's camera not wanting to show his unpresentable face. "Ah yes, can you tell him that I'VE LOST JISUNG AND CHENLE IN THE BUSY STREETS OF DISTRICT DREAM AND HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THE HECK THEY ARE." Jeno hangs up the phone and Renjun slowly turns to Donghyuck. "Hyuck?"</p><p>  </p><p>Donghyuck already grabbed his camera and headed out the door.</p><p>  </p><p>.</p><p>"Do you really have to film this?" Renjun says as he and Donghyuck are running on the sidewalk to District Dream. "It's quality content, and if it's too much I can turn the camera off." the merman replies back. They get out of the park as the sunset has just started. Renjun stops and looks in awe at the sunset. He doesn't go to District Dream. The only time he's been is when Dean Lee and Professor Qian showed him around the city. Looking at the sunset was amazing to him. "Don't mind him guys he doesn't go to Dream that much, RENJUN I KNOW THE SUNSET IS PRETTY HERE BUT WE GOTTA FIND TWO MISSING CHILDREN HERE."</p><p>  </p><p>The "two children" were found by the same ice cream stand Renjun saw when he was in his tour eating a cone. 
"Oh hey guys", the taller one, Jisung, says nonchalantly munching on his waffle cone. Donghyuck points the camera at them and proceeds to interrogate them like a mother. "Where the heck is Jeno, why did you guys leave him, and why are you only eating a cone?"</p><p>  </p><p>Really it was just a cone. No ice cream.</p><p>  </p><p>"Geez you sound like a FBI agent." Jisung replies back finishing what he had left. "ANSWER ME YOU BRAT" Donghyuck yells scaring some tourists nearby. "First, we don't know, second we wanted to eat some cones, and third cause we want the cones" the other one, Chenle, replies back. Renjun looks at the pegasus hybrid running the stand. She shrugs and goes back to making a ice cream cone for another customer. Donghyuck turns off his camera and puts it around his neck (its a cannon camera with the lanyard thing attached to it). "Let's go and find Jeno, I bet he's crazy worried that he lost you two."</p><p>  </p><p>This is when shit hits the fan cause when they find Jeno they find him on a boat in the ocean.</p><p>  </p><p>Mark, Donghyuck's boyfriend, is standing on the sand staring at Jeno on the boat in confusion when the four meets him on the beach. "Oh hey guys, are you here to get Jeno off of the boat too?" Mark asks. Renjun shakes his head. "We're here cause these two were missing." He says. Jeno, waves his hand from the boat and shouts. "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE THIS THINGGG!!" Renjun heard bits and pieces of what he said with his human ears, but the rest heard loud and clear. "What did he say?" Renjun asks Mark. "He said he doesn't know how to drive the boat." It wouldn't be a problem if the boat wasn't 10 feet away, but look where we are now. Donghyuck pinches the bridge of his nose and gives his camera to Mark.</p><p>  </p><p>"STAY THERE"</p><p>  </p><p>"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE A CHOICE????"</p><p>  </p><p>Donghyuck runs to the dock. The dock has deeper water. With deeper water, Donghyuck can immediately changed into his tail. Merfolk are able to switch back into their tails when they touch water and back into their legs when they swim to shore. Renjun always wondered how he showers, but prefer not to know. The other four follow Donghyuck to the dock and watch him swim to Jeno and the boat with his red glittering tail. Renjun wants to take a picture of this scene. With the sunset and Donghyuck's tail, it looks very beautiful. He can't cause A. he doesn't have his phone, and B. having Jeno jumping up and down on the boat with his arms waving isn't the best background.</p><p>  </p><p>The four watches from away as the tiny silhouette is seen arguing with Jeno on the boat. He tries to push the boat, but ends up steering the other direction. He tries to turn the engine on but it doesn't budge. The engine doesn't even work. "How did he end up all the way over there if the engine doesn't work???" Chenle asks. No one knows, and no one doesn't want to know. Jeno is a very strange being and that's coming from a leprechaun, a ice fae, a vampire, and a human with powers. Eventually they see the boat rushing to shore at a fast speed on a wave. It seems like Donghyuck is using his elemental powers to move the boat to shore.</p><p>  </p><p>Well that's a bad idea.</p><p>  </p><p>They may have finished their freshmen year, but neither Renjun or Donghyuck really know the basis of controlling elemental powers. Just last week, Renjun accidentally grew a whole ass tree in his backyard. When his parents asked about it, he and Sicheng tried to trick them into thinking it was there all along.</p><p>  </p><p>Nonetheless, it works and brings Jeno to shore.</p><p>  </p><p>Then into the streets.</p><p> </p><p>T</p><p>hen into the park.</p><p> </p><p>The goal was to bring him out of the water so the plan worked.</p><p>  </p><p>Donghyuck swims up to shore and changes into his legs. "Shit where did he go?" he asks, his eyes wide with fear. "You launched him from the water into the street, then through the park with your amazing water control great job." Renjun says putting an arm on Donghyuck's shoulder. "Let's go and find him guys." Mark says and they start running to the park.</p><p>  </p><p>.</p><p>Thankfully they find him in District U.</p><p>  </p><p>However he's now stuck in the water of the river.</p><p> </p><p>Darn so close, but so far.</p><p>  </p><p>"IT KINDA WORKED, BUT NOW I'M STUCK IN A RIVERRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrr" </p><p> </p><p>"Jeno you're not rushing down stream the river is very slow."</p><p>  </p><p>Jeno gets up from the boat. "Let me have fun with this!" he groans.</p><p>  </p><p>"Ok it's big brain time." Mark says. "We need to get that boat out of the river any ideas?" They don't have any. "Great, um oh! Renjun can you make a shield against that hole over there?" Renjun looks at where Mark is pointing. It's the waterway to District 127. Sort of like a tunnel on a freeway but for merfolk and boats. "Why though, we can just have him get home via that tunnel." Renjun says. "I NEED TO RETURN THIS BOAT TO JOHNNY HYUNG!" "How did you- never mind, can you do it though?" Mark asks. Renjun thinks. "I can't make a shield blocking the hole, but if I get on the boat and make a shield around it, the force field should be large enough to block it." he replies. "Oh no, you are NOT getting on that boat what if you get stuck on there too?? Jae-" "It'll be fine because you will bring the boat onto land." Mark says. Haechan stops talking and turns to Mark. "What??"  "Guys it's getting close to the exit way!" Jisung says. "I know you can do it Hyuck. You need to practice anyway and this is the perfect opportunity." "UM IS THERE A WAY HE CAN PRACTICE WHEN I'M NOT THE TARGET"  "SHUT UP THEY'RE HAVING A MOMENT" Renjun shouts back. Donghyuck turns back to Mark. "Hyung I can't do this, you know I can't" Mark puts his hands on his shoulders. "No that is not true. I know you can do this and you CAN do this. The force field will make the boat lighter so you should be able to lift it. If goes flying like last time, Jisung, Chenle, and I can try to stop with as much force we've got." Mark hugs Donghyuck. "Have confidence Donghyuck, I know you have it in you." He whispers. Mark lets go and pats Donghyuck. "Ok you guys ready?"</p><p>  </p><p>"AGAIN DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE A CHOICE?? ALSO GETTING REAL CLOSE HERE!" Jeno shouts back.</p><p> </p><p>Mark nods to his friends. They nod back. Renjun start sprinting for the boat and jumps on. "Hi Nono." he says and builds a purple force field around the boat. When it reaches the exit, the force field blocks it making the boat stop. Jisung and Chenle run to the park and get ready to stop the boat if needed. Mark gives Haechan a peck on his forehead and joins them. Donghyuck, now more determined looks at Renjun. Renjun smiles and mouths "you can do it!" Donghyuck brings out a long sigh and focuses. Water from both sides of the force field being to grow. They lift the field and bring it towards land. Slowly and shakily it successfully brings it onto the grass. Donghyuck opens his eyes and cheers letting go of the water. The boat though, goes full speed at him along with a flood of water. "HYUCK WATCH OUT." Donghyuck jumps to the side. Mark, Jisung, and Chenle get ready to stop the boat. Renjun keeps the force field up in the case they run into a tree. The boat starts to slow down and as the boys prepare for impact it stops right in front of Mark's face. "GUYS I DID IT! I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT I DID IT!" Somehow, Donghyuck was able to make the water retreat back into the river making the boat slow down. Renjun takes down the force field and jumps off with Jeno to Donghyuck. Chenle, Jisung, and Mark, who carefully shimmies to the side, also runs. They all give him a hug.</p><p> </p><p>"See I knew you can do it!"</p><p>  </p><p>"We're so proud of you hyung!"</p><p>  </p><p>"Way to go Hyuckles!"</p><p>  </p><p>They shout with joy and laugh. Until one problem.</p><p>  </p><p>"Wait how are we going to get this back to Dream"</p><p>  </p><p>.</p><p>"Helloooo Earth to Huang Renjun??" Renjun snaps back to reality. Donghyuck is back out of the pool wrapped in a towel and staring at him. It looks like he's done with practice. "You ok there bud?" he asks laced with concern. Renjun smiles and laughs. "Awee you care about me?" Donghyuck rolls his eyes then smiles. "Come on I gotta go change ." Renjun gets up and walks with Donghyuck to the locker rooms. "You know you gotta tell me when season starts so I can watch your practices and games when I'm bored." Donghyuck smiles and winks at his friend. "Don't worry I'll drag you to every one of them even if you have a final" he jokes and laughs at Renjun's groan. They continue to walk to the locker room, excited for their dinner with their other friends.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Just gonna say it right here.. don't expect to see YouTuber Hyuckles that much heh... </p><p>He does his YouTube career outside of the fic you read so just keep that in mind lolol </p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Lee Jeno</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lee Jeno the Werewolf</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HEEEYYYY </p><p>Thanks for reading this chapter! As our world is falling in the deepest pits of hell during 2020 I will like to remind you guys to stay safe and wear your masks during social distancing to keep Miss Rona out of yours and other people's lungs and to keep supported Black Lives Matter and other movements (Work for petition will be in dashboard) </p><p>Once again thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It's days before a final, and Renjun had just finished his first round of studying in the library. "You can do this Renjun, just a few more weeks and you can enjoy the holidays." Just as he starts to open another textbook, he feels shuffling by his feet. The latter looks under the table and sees a Samoyed dog panting and smiling at him. "You're late." The dog stops smiling and pouts letting out a whine. He slowly gets out from under the table and transforms into a young male with parted brown hair in a green sweater and dark green pants. He's carrying a dark blue satchel around his shoulders and is looking exhausted probably from sprinting. "Sorry, my professor kept us in late." he says, giving Renjun a apologetic smile. The boy pulls a chair out at the table and sets his bag down. "So what have you been studying so far?" </p><p>.</p><p>Out of all of the people in his friend group, Renjun has to say that Lee Jeno is the strangest of them of all. Jeno is somehow overly smart yet overly dumb at the same time. Remember how he got stranded on that boat in District Dream? Renjun still doesn't know how he managed to bring a boat with a broken engine all the way out into the ocean and get stuck. The guy has a 4.0 gpa yet manages to kill 60% of Renjun's brain cells. </p><p>Lee Jeno is a werewolf. Usually, the image of a werewolf to a average human being is a muscular guy or a hot girl that turns into a wolf at ease. There's also that weird alpha/beta/omega thing people keep making fanfics about, but we are gonna ignore whatever the heck that is. People aren't completely wrong about werewolves though. Jeno is a person who does work out and has strength and speed honing as his minor, but not all werewolves are like that. He can turn into a wolf, but also a domesticated dog as well. Jeno once has explained to Renjun that because it's the 21st century, werepeople have evolved and can now turn into two versions, a cute dog or a wild wolf. Most of the time Jeno would turn into his Samoyed self to be more comfortable (he once has said and I quote: "It feels better to walk on all four of your feet then two."), but would turn into a wolf for self defense. Oh and there's no secondary gender, and honestly it scares Jeno to death ("Oh my goodness that's scary! And very inappropriate, are humans thirsty or something?").</p><p>Jeno is a dance major. He wanted to be an idol, but was afraid of being discovered as a non human in Seoul so he played it safe and stayed in Neo City. Also part of the university's dance team, Jeno dances often and does busking in the streets of District 127 whenever he has time. Once, Renjun had the chance to see his busking performance, and man was he good. He didn't even recognize the person dancing. The friendly eye smiling wolf he knew turned into this dance monster that had abilities that Renjun didn't even know of. It's his passion Jeno once said, and he enjoys doing it. </p><p>The wolf also, ironically, has a cat. I say ironically because: </p><p>- He is a dog </p><p>- He is also allergic to cats </p><p>That doesn't stop Jeno from taking care of Geran (egg) though. According to Donghyuck, who is his roommate, Jeno likes to play with his cat, feeds it occasionally, takes care of it like a father should, but doesn't sleep in the same room as it because if he does Jeno will die of suffocation. Renjun has played with Geran before, but she'd rather play with Jeno cause she's a tsundere. It's funny to see Donghyuck's and Jeno's room together though. One has a bunch of film equipment and make up and the other room has cat toys and gym equipment. Perfectly explains their personalities. </p><p>Renjun can never forget the first time he saw Jeno's true personality.  </p><p>Having met Donghyuck first, Jeno was introduced through him as his roommate. At first, when Renjun went to stay at Donghyuck's dorm room, him and Jeno would occasionally talk, but never had a full out conversation. </p><p>Until a certain run to the convenience store. </p><p>Renjun, Jeno, and Donghyuck were one night, staying up to study. They were getting tired and extremely hungry. "How about one of us runs down to the convenience store and buy some ramen, chips, and drinks. We gotta give money to him though." Donghyuck suggests. Jeno and Renjun agreed pretty quickly. They were food starved and on the verge of losing their minds on trying to solve the same physics question for the 20th time in a row (Renjun had counted from the beginning). They play rock paper scissors. Renjun ends up losing, but because of Donghyuck and his mom instincts he tells Jeno to go with him. "He's new human meat that a random ass vampire or zombie can hack their teeth into" he reasons and it was true. Right as Renjun and Jeno gets up to leave Donghyuck stops them. "Wait its the full moon do you want me to go with him?" Jeno shakes his head. "Nah I got this bro, we'll come back in 15."  </p><p>In the middle of walking to the store, Jeno turned into his dog self. </p><p>When there's a full moon, werepeople don't have a choice when they turn. It's the roll of a dice, wolf or dog. Fortunately, Renjun didn't have to deal with a large wolf.</p><p>He however had to deal with a crying Samoyed.  </p><p>Could you really blame Jeno though? It was 3 in the morning. He was tired, hungry, and very frustrated at the amount of problems he couldn't solve. On top of that, Jeno had to turn without will. Darn it, werewolf blood. </p><p>"It's ok, it's ok. We'll grab our ramen and snacks and quickly come back home." Jeno started to lay down in the middle of the sidewalk and bawled his eyes out. Renjun, who is equally as tired and hungry as the wailing dog right in front of him, picks Jeno up, who is a full grown, fluffy Samoyed dog, and carries him to the convenience store. "What can I do to make you stop crying." Renjun thinks outloud. </p><p>"More ramen?" </p><p>Jeno shakes his head. </p><p>"Some ice cream?" </p><p>Jeno shakes his head and cries out more tears. </p><p>"Mmmm, what about some dog cookies?" </p><p>He stops crying. Bingo. </p><p>Renjun stops walking and puts down the 66 pound dog. "If you stop crying, I can bake you some dog cookies I used to make for my dog back in Jilin and give them to you in the morning. Deal?" Jeno gets up smiling. His tail starts to wag back and forth. "Great! Let's go and get that ramen." The next day, Renjun was able to bake the cookies and give them to a human Jeno. As a human, he can't digest them but tells Renjun that he will definitely devour them at his dorm.  </p><p>Speaking of ramen, Jeno works at a ramen restaurant. </p><p>It's funny that a guy who can't cook for his life, works at a restaurant. Granted he's not the cook, but he still has to serve bowls of hot boiling soup and rice to people without dropping them. This reminds Renjun of another episode about Jeno. </p><p>It was a boring Saturday night. Sophomore year at just started, so there wasn't much for Renjun to do. His roommate was out for a while so he couldn't hang out with him. Donghyuck was on a date with Mark. Jisung was sleeping by now because in his words: "babies need their beauty rest for the burning hell that is high school." Chenle is also sleeping from all of the unpacking he had to do the other day and Jeno doesn't answer his phone. His other two friends were also in China so can't hang out with them. Renjun sighs and looks up things to do in the city. He would go to District U and finally see the street markets at night, but Renjun doesn't have a car nor the energy to drive on or walk the bridge. After scrolling through expensive restaurants, Renjun finally spots a ramen restaurant. Not too expensive, good reviews, and he was hungry. Perfect. The small one grabs his necessitates and starts to head for the restaurant.</p><p>Osaka Ramen and Takoyaki is a petite restaurant. It's squeezed between two large department stores making it very difficult to find for newcomers. Renjun had just spend 20 minutes walking back and forth on the same street looking for the restaurant. When he does find it, Renjun opens the door and is welcomed by the smell of fresh ramen broth. "Irashaimasei, go ahead and sit at that table over there" the chef says, pointing to the only free table near a wall. Renjun follows and sits at the lone table, looking at the bustling waiters serving bowls left and right. It makes sense that the restaurant is packed, it was dinner time. "Irashaimasei, welcome to Osaka Ramen and- oh hi Renjun!" Renjun looks up and is surprised to see Jeno as a waiter. "Oh hey! You work here?"  "Yeah, needed the money so I started in the summer. Here." Jeno gives Renjun the menu and a cup of water. "Do you want any other drinks?" Renjun shakes his head. "No, I'm fine thank you." Jeno gives Renjun a bright smile then proceeds to tend to another customer. </p><p>The menu is filled with many different items. From types of ramen to takoyaki to side dishes, Renjun's mouth waters at the thought of the delicious dishes. </p><p>"WHY ARE ALL OF YOUR DISHES SO DAMN EXPENSIVE" </p><p>All of the customers turn their head to the strange man yelling at the chef. </p><p>"Sir, I need you to calm down-" </p><p>"NO, EVERY TIME I COME BACK HERE YOUR PRICES RISE HIGHER AND HIGHER DO YOU KNOW HOW HUNGRY I AM??" </p><p>The chef gives Jeno a bowl of ramen, and turns to the screaming man. </p><p>"Sir, I can assure you that our prices have never dropped or rose in the 5 years it has existed. I also know that you are not hungry, because your Mercedes-Benz is sitting right outside on the street as we speak." </p><p>Ooh, Renjun felt that burn. </p><p>The man, who is clearly embarrassed for the call out, starts to become even more angry at the chef. "You're a werewolf right? Who's your pack leader, I gotta speak to him or her about your despicable behavior."  The chef rolls his eyes. "Jeno escort him out of the restaurant will ya." Jeno nods and tries to take the man outside. "NO THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. DO YOU WANNA FIGHT KID? I'M GOING TO CALL MY PACK AND WHEN THEY HEAR ABOUT THIS YOUR PACK WILL BE OBLITERATED IN SECONDS. NO ONE PICKS A FIGHT WITH ME." </p><p>The chef, who is impressively calm, turns his to customers. "I'm sorry about that everyone. Please enjoy your dinner peacefully!" The customers slowly start to bring their chatter back up upon request. Jeno comes back in, visibly tired, and goes to Renjun's table. "So did you pick what you wanted to eat yet?" "Y-yeah I'll have the miso ramen with the 3 piece takoyaki thank you." Renjun replies. Jeno jots down Renjun's order on a writing pad. "You wanna know who that guy was do you?" Renjun nods. He can't help it, he is very curious. Jeno sighs and puts his writing pad back into his pocket. "He's this crazy manager from some company that keeps complaining about the food here. The quality, the price, the waiter service. It's so freaking annoying especially when he comes back EVERY week just to make a ruckus." Jeno sighs once more and puts one his usual smile. "I'll bring your order to the chef, he takes pride in his takoyaki so make sure to savor every bite." He then walks away into the kitchen. </p><p>That wasn't the last of that man though. </p><p>Minutes later when Renjun is on his phone, the man walks back in again and sits at Renjun's table. "You're that human kid at Neo University right?"  "Yeah?" Renjun says, unsure if he wants to continue the conversation. "Look here kid, my name is Ahn Kibum." He stops and waits for Renjun's response. "Ok?" he replies. The man starts to talk again. "I'm the one who funded your scholarship." Renjun raises an eyebrow. The scholarship he's on is funded by Dean Lee. It's a special scholarship for humans who managed to get into Neo University. Renjun acts surprised anyway to get a kick out of him. "Oh really? Oh it's so nice to meet you!" Renjun says in a very high pitched voice. "Yeah, yeah it's great to meet me, but let me get to the point. Since I funded your scholarship shouldn't you give me something in return?" Scholarships are a pay it forward kind of thing, but Renjun still goes along with his act. "Oh yeah, I guess you should" he says, obviously sarcastic. "This man is so dense" he thinks. The man smiles thinking he lured Renjun into his trap (which is honestly the other way around). "Great! Then I want you to buy me a ramen. Simple as that right? No big money, no nothing, just a nice bowl of Japanese noodles and soup." Renjun tilts his head to the side with a innocent expression. "You want ramen?" The man nods eagerly. Renjun, still tilting his head, gives him a fake smile. </p><p>"No" </p><p>The man's smile falls. "What?" Renjun goes back to his previous position. "I said no, now go away before I tell the chef you're here." The man's face starts to get red. "But, I'm the one who funded your scholarship!"  "Dean Lee Jieun is the one who funds the scholarship and just a fyi, people who fund scholarships usually don't expect anything in return" he snaps back. Jeno, who for some reason is in his dog form (Renjun can't believe that the chef allows him to serve tables likes this), comes back to Renjun's table balancing a plate of takoyaki on his head. He stops at the table and looks at the man, then Renjun, then the man, then Renjun, then the man, then Renjun then-</p><p>The man grabs the plate and books it. </p><p>"Could have you reacted a little faster?" Renjun yells and runs after the man. Jeno follows in hot pursuit.</p><p>They chase the man in his Mercedes-Benz into Cherry Park. Renjun starts to get tired and slows down. Jeno however is lighting fast was able to bite back the bumper of the man's car. </p><p>The guy works out, it's possible. </p><p>When Renjun had caught up, the man is yelling at Jeno to let go of his car. "LET GO OF MY CAR YOU MUTT BEFORE I CALL THE POLICE." Jeno, the ever stubborn little pup, refuses to even look at the man. "Isn't it a little ironic that you called him a mutt when you're one yourself?" The man looks at Renjun and glares. "Please I'm not even a werewolf, I'm a mermaid." Renjun rolls his eyes and snatches the plate of takoyaki out of the man's hands. "Mermaids don't drive, nor are they freaking cannibals." He should know this, Donghyuck screamed then smacked a plate of sushi out of Renjun's hands once. </p><p>"Why can't you just pay the normal price dude." Jeno says, now in his human form holding the bumper with his two hands. The man, realizing that Jeno has less power as a human tries to get into his car. "Nope!" Renjun says making a force field around the car. "Pay or we'll call the police you conman!" The man scoffs. "Do you even know the meaning of conman kid? You're so young! What are you 12? How are you in university when you're this short-" </p><p>"Jeno let go of the car." </p><p>Jeno lets go of the car. Renjun puts down the force field letting Jeno get out of it then encloses it again. He lifts it over the river from the bridge they are standing on. </p><p>"Make your choice bi-" </p><p>"Waiiittt, we can't damage consumer's stuff!" Renjun slowly turns his head towards Jeno. The audacity he had to call this guy a consumer. "He stole a plate of takoyaki! MY takoyaki that I have to pay for!" Jeno huffs. "Renjun put the car down." </p><p>"No" </p><p>"Put ittt" </p><p>The man laughs "Isn't that guy the dog here? Why is he talking to you like a-" </p><p>"SHUT UP!!!" they yell in unison. </p><p>He backs out with his hands up. </p><p>Jeno gets up and walks to Renjun with hands on his hips. "Huang Renjun put the car down or so help me." he says in his sternest voice. </p><p>"No" </p><p>Jeno growls angrily. </p><p>"Fine" </p><p>Renjun brings the car onto the bridge and lets go of the force field. Jeno then walks over to the man who is hiding with the trees. "Now, Mr. Ahn if you have any problems with our establishment please talk to Chef Nakamoto nice and calmly, EMPHASIS ON THE CALMLY YOU LITTLE SHIT, or we will call the police." Jeno says with an eye smile. </p><p>Renjun and the man, both visibly shocked by Jeno's stern threat, gulps. Jeno opens the driver's seat of the car and the passenger's seat. "Now since you have made us come all the way here just for a freaking $2 plate of takoyaki you will drive us back to the restaurant or I will PULL the car all the way back there. Do you understand me?" The man nods very quickly and runs into the driver's seat. Renjun quietly follows and hops into the passenger seat with Jeno and they all drive back to District 127 to the restaurant. </p><p>The man apologizes to the Chef saying that he will never appear at the restaurant again. He also apologizes to Renjun for trying to trick him into buying him food and stealing his. Jeno got a raise for basically chasing a thief and Renjun got a coupon for free takoyaki. His meal was also paid for which made him extra happy. </p><p>.</p><p>"How's the restaurant doing?" Jeno looks up and raises a brow. "All the sudden?" Renjun just shrugs and smiles. "Pretty good, Chef Nakamoto was able to get more items from Japan so the meals will be more fresh and tasty then they were before!" People shush him for shouting. Renjun giggles. "But yeah, if you wanna come some time and have a bowl you can come next week. Johnny hyung is taking care of the restaurant though so I don't know how good the ramen will be." Jeno whispers jokingly. Renjun smiles and nods. "I'll make sure to come over whenever I can, gotta use up that coupon!" </p><p>The people shush them once more.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Do you think Renjun can carry a full grown Samoyed in real life?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Mark Lee</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mark Lee the Vampire</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ELLO! </p><p>Thank you so much for coming back to read this chapter! Once more, please remember to keep fighting for Black Lives Matter and other movements! It is also important to remember to take mental health breaks so you don't break down from all of the hellfire 2020 has brought :))) </p><p>Also remember to wear your masks..esp if you're in the US... please for the love of god follow social distancing rules and wear your masks </p><p>Thanks love ;)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Shoot!" Donghyuck and Jeno look up. "I'm supposed to be at the medical room by now!" Renjun says. "Medical room? You're a college student, you don't have enough money for medical care." Donghyuck says.  The smaller gathers his items and grabs his backpack. "No, Mark hyung asked to take my blood pressure today for his project!" The other two bring out a long "oooohhhh" in unison and didn't even have enough time to say good bye to a frantic Renjun running out the room. </p><p>As fast as he can, Renjun sprints to the medical department of the campus dodging people and fairies. He feels his phone ring in his back pocket, signaling that Mark is looking for him. Renjun ignores it and runs faster to the medical room. </p><p>Coming close to view is a guy with black hair wearing dark blue scrubs. He is standing in front of the medical department's doors and has one hand on his hip, holding a phone up to his ear with another. When he spots Renjun running, he puts down his phone and smiles. "Oh thank goodness, I thought you forgot!" Renjun, who is panting from sprinting from the other side of the campus, tries to speak in the middle of catching his breath. "Sorry. I. Was. WHOO give me a minute." After normalizing, Renjun straightens up. "Sorry I was with Donghyuck and Jeno. They were trying to build something for their project and lack the capability to glue macaroni to cardboard."  Mark chuckles. "Yeah they're pretty bad aren't they? Come on in!" </p><p>.</p><p>Mark Lee is a vampire. Renjun has met him in a chemistry course in freshman year. He still remembers the quiet guy with ruffled black hair and glasses, who was always hunched over a book or a report he had due for his next class. Despite being lab partners, they never really talked. Until one assignment.</p><p>Renjun wasn't really sure what had happened, but he knew it shouldn't have had Mark end up in urgent care. </p><p>For the weekend, Renjun's professor had assigned the class a mini project in the beginning of freshman year.</p><p>"Create a recipe for a pure elemental soup with chemicals! This is a science class guys, you can't rely on magic all the time." The professor starts to put the instructions on the board. "You and your lab partner will create a formula that uses chemicals to create an pure element such as water, fire, earth, or wind. If you do somehow get stuck, you can use a potion but no spells!" </p><p>After getting assigned a element (lightning, how fun) Mark and Renjun exchanged contact information and agreed to meet up at Mark's dorm the next day. After class, Renjun goes to meet Donghyuck at a cafe. "Oh watch out he's clumsy as fuck. When I first met him I had to make a cake with him for Home EC and BOOM, he sets the whole ass oven on fire." Donghyuck says. "You know Mark Lee?" Donghyuck raises an eyebrow while munching on a cookie. "Uh yeah? He's my boyfriend." Well Renjun didn't know that. </p><p>Renjun also didn't know that Mark was THAT clumsy. The two managed to create a formula that can keep the lightning in a jar (nerds, I tell you they are nerds). All they had to do was not break the jar. Very simple, if they don't break the jar they can get the A and no one gets a third degree burn. Right as Renjun steps out of the door-</p><p>"AHHH RENJUN GET BACK IN HERE" </p><p>Mark had somehow broken the jar. </p><p>Renjun turns back and sees the lightning hopping from object to object, burning everything in its path. "QUICK GET ANOTHER JAR!!" Renjun yells. Mark complies, running into the kitchen to look for some object to trap the lightning in. Renjun meanwhile is trying to put a force field around it. It turns out Renjun's powers only work with tangible items and not hot burning air. "I FOUND SOMETHING!!" Mark runs out of the kitchen and heads straight towards the lightning. He miss and ends up crashing into a wall. "MARK OVER THERE!" Mark recovers quickly (he's a vampire, he's good) and runs towards his roommate's room. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH" Mark yells as his war cry.</p><p>The good news is that he caught it. </p><p>The bad news is that he smashed his face into the lightning BEFORE he caught it. </p><p>"OH MY STARS MARK ARE YOU OK?" Mark gets up and turns around. A lightning mark has burned onto his face. "Yeah I'm fine, but lets go to urgent care" he says calmly. </p><p>He wasn't fine. He screamed in agony when they got into the car. They got an A though. </p><p>.</p><p>Out of all of his friends, Renjun thinks that Mark is the one who can cooperate with him the most. Sure Donghyuck is fun to hang out with, and Jeno is relatable , but Mark knows what Renjun is thinking most of the time. They have similar work habits that help them to get the job done faster. Though the other is a year older then Renjun, they still hold study sessions and help each other whenever their schedule allows it. </p><p>When Mark is not trying to become Neo City's first vampire doctor, he's either on a date with Donghyuck or making music with his guitar. Renjun swears Mark and Donghyuck meant for each other. With Mark's guitar skills and Donghyuck's vocal abilities, they make an awesome performance that catches everyone's attention. They got #5 trending once on YouTube for a Shawn Mendes cover on Donghyuck's channel. </p><p>Mark is also from a different country. Canada, land of moose and poutine. Sometimes when Mark can't explain something in Korean, he breaks into English phrases. No one in their friend group speaks English fluently, so when Mark says "GOLDFISH, that's what's it's called!" the rest of the group sits in silence, nodding as if they understand. Other times, Mark would go full English then back into Korean. Renjun was once having a conversation with Mark about the black plague (don't ask) when Mark all the sudden says in English; "That's a very philosophical way of thinking though. I would've thought that the bird doctors were just there cause they like, could be there you know?" Renjun just sat there trying to use his limited English to understand half of that sentence. All he got was "bird", "doctor", and "like". </p><p> </p><p>Mark brought a duck to class once. </p><p>It didn't quack loudly though. The duck was very quiet, and sat obediently. Everyone in the room, including Renjun and the professor, stared at the duck while Mark was furiously writing notes from his textbook. When he realized that class didn't start yet, he looks up and sees the entire room fixated on his duck (just to be clear, that isn't a youthemism for anything). "Ah, he's my assistant." No one didn't ask how the duck was his assistant, but no one wanted to know. </p><p>The duck's name is Robert.</p><p>Renjun later learns after class, that Mark met Robert while he was in District U trying out the new raw meat restaurant. "This guy was following me so I just adopted him" Mark says casually finishing the rest of his tomato juice (vampires are able to drink anything red). "You don't think it's because he wanted some of the meat you drank?" Renjun asks looking at the duck walking in between him and his owner. "I tried to give some of the meat to him, but he refused it." Mark replies back, throwing away the tomato juice. He looks at the duck and the duck looks up at him. The duck quacks something to Mark then looks at Renjun. "He says he likes you." "What?-" </p><p> </p><p>Robert later meets Jeno and Donghyuck when Mark and Renjun visited their dorm.</p><p>Geran, Jeno's cat, looked at the duck and it stared right back at her. Robert looks at Mark and he nods. Renjun assumes Robert wanted to play with Geran and asked Mark for permission. "Wow that's very quiet duck." Jeno says staring at Robert. Robert proceeds to sit in front of Geran and roll a ball to her. She looks at it and rolls it back to him. "Oh look, they're playing with the ball together!" Mark says. Donghyuck, who was  beginning to become uncomfortable with the duck, brings Mark, Renjun, and Jeno to the side. "Um hyung, where did you find-" Donghyuck clears his throat. "Robert" "Oh, he followed me back from District U!" Jeno and Donghyuck then say in unison; "ohhhhh" (it's their favorite phrase to say together). "Wait why does that make sense?" Renjun asks. "Stray and wild animals from District U are always quiet. Many people think its because of the war like history of that town." Jeno explains. Renjun looks back at Robert and Geran who dropped the ball and began to have a conversation with each other. "War like history?" Donghyuck groans and flops onto their couch. "UGH! It's the worst thing to learn about our city I swear. It's like 150 years long and it's so annoying to learn. You'll see in your history course." </p><p> </p><p>Chenle and Jisung lost Robert once.</p><p>"WHAT???" Mark yells into the phone. He had to go back to Canada for a month for a family meeting and had let Chenle and Jisung take care of Robert since they have BEGGED to babysit him. "I swear to god, that duck stared at us and just walked away." Jisung says on speaker phone. "Where are you right now?" </p><p>"At the mall"</p><p>"Why would you take a duck to the mall?" Renjun asks loudly. </p><p>"Hyung, its a duck that's from District U that likes to stare into your soul, taking him to the mall isn't the most craziest thing to do." Jisung says. </p><p>"JISUNG I FOUND HIM" Chenle is heard in the background. Mark massages his forehead. "I'm coming." He hangs up the phone and starts to pack up his stuff. "Do you want to come with? I know you can't do this assignment without my help." Mark deadpans. "I know your duck is missing, but jeez didn't have to call me out like that." Renjun says and packs up his stuff as well. </p><p>Boom &amp; Limitless Mall was the biggest mall Renjun has ever been in. The place has 8 floors, a rooftop, 200,000 stores, a huge ass food court, and a playground. "How are we supposed to find a tiny duck in here?!" Renjun says practically shouting because of the amount of people around them. "Oh yeah you've never been in this mall before. Stick with me, Donghyuck will KILL me for losing his child. Well actually I don't know who would kill me first him or J-" </p><p>"HYUNGS!" Renjun and Mark turned to see a panting Jisung and Chenle running up to them. "Ok we saw him, but then we lost him." Chenle says. "Where did you last see him??" Mark asks. They both had seen Robert on the 7th floor. The four of them run to the clearest elevator they could find. It takes forever for it to reach ground floor, but the boys are able to get on with 20 other people. </p><p>"Why do I smell a human here? Are humans allowed in here?" </p><p>"Mommy I sense something different!" </p><p>"Maybe it's that new human kid at Neo University." </p><p>All of the passengers collectively turn and stare at the students being squished into the back. Renjun clears his throat. "Hi, it's-a me the human OH MY GOD SO CRAZY HAHAHA- have any of you have seen a 1 foot-" </p><p>"5 inch" </p><p>"5 inch duck around here? It's gray, has a pale beak, likes to stare at everyone like how all of you are staring at me right now." </p><p>The child who sensed Renjun raises his hand. "I SAW HIM!! I SAW HIM!!" The four light up. "Where??" The child thinks. "I DON'T REMEMBER!" </p><p>These people will be the death of Renjun.</p><p>They reach the 7th floor and the crowd disperses. Some say good luck to them on their goose chase ("it's not a goose, it's a duck!") while others praise Renjun for being the first human student at Neo University. "Wow that's nice of them to say." Renjun thinks surprised. "Ok where on the floor did you see him?" Mark asks.</p><p>"THERE!" Chenle yells.</p><p>"In the Chinese restaurant? He's probably crying somewhere then-"  </p><p>"NO HE'S RIGHT THERE" </p><p>Low and behold, Robert was in the middle of the floor. Frozen, deer in headlights. Robert and the four stare at each other, waiting to see which will break first. It turns out it's Robert, cause he makes a panicked quack and bolts the other direction. "GET THAT DUCK!!!" Mark screams and all of them chase after him. </p><p>You see, chasing a 5 inch duck in a sea of people isn't the brightest idea. The four split up into separate directions. Chenle goes to the left, Jisung to the right, Mark to the right then separates from Jisung by taking a left, and Renjun straightforward. Renjun keeps running until he sees a gray blob in his peripheral. He turns. "ROBERT!!" Robert turns his head, eyes widening. He looks behind Renjun. Robert lets out a panicked quack and runs up to Renjun. The latter scoops Robert into his arms. "Oh my god can you NOT run away from us. Mark hyung just came back from Canada and this is how you-" Robert lets out a loud quack and points his wing to something behind Renjun. He turns around and is met with a grey hog zooming into his gut. Renjun gets pushed down and slides across the floor. He holds his stomach and groans at the pain. "Did I just really get sucker punched by a pig??" Renjun opens his eyes and sees the hog dragging Robert away via tail. "Robert!" Renjun gets up and starts running towards the hog. The hog looks up and swings Robert over the edge of the floor. Robert slowly drifts to the 5th floor and lands safely. The hog starts booking for the 5th floor with Renjun in hot pursuit. "HYUNGS RENJUN IS CHASING A HOG FROM DISTRICT U!!!" Jisung yells and starts following Renjun and the hog. Chenle and Mark hear and start to run too. They follow the hog down the escalator, occasionally bumping into people. </p><p>"oops!" Jisung says</p><p>"Sorry sir!" Mark says</p><p>"SORRY SORRY" Renjun yells </p><p>"HEY CAN YOU TRY CATCH THAT HOG??" Chenle shouts. </p><p>The hog makes it to the 5th floor and looks around for Robert. "SOMEONE CATCH THAT PIG!!" Mark yells. The hog spots something and runs after it. The four manage to reach the 5th floor in time to start sprinting towards the hog. Mark uses his super speed and chases the hog. He tackles it to the ground and picks it up. "Yayy you caught it. Can you guys stop running so fast??" Renjun says tiredly. The hog tries to wrestle out of Mark's arms but gives up once he realizes Mark isn't going to let him go. "Good now that you have given up, why are you chasing Robert?" The hog starts to snort to tell Mark why he was chasing a duck in a District 127 shopping mall. "What is he saying?" Chenle asks. "He said that Robert just left without saying anything. When animals leave District U, they have to tell at least one other animal they they're departing. Apparently its a safety system they use." Renjun nods then spots Robert. He stands far away watching the group. Renjun starts to walk over to Robert and when he reaches him, Renjun kneels down. "I think we need to hear your side of the story, don't we?" Robert nods and quacks silently. Renjun picks him up and walks over to the group. When Robert makes eye contact with the hog, he quacks for a long time, as if he is apologizing and telling the hog his reasons of leaving District U without saying anything. The hog nods then snorts back to him. Both animals squirm signaling Mark and Renjun to put them down. They do, and upon reaching the ground Robert and the hog hug each other (more like Robert putting his wings around the hog). "Come on, we gotta take you home." Mark chuckles. All six of them walk out of the mall to District U where Robert says his last good byes to his animal friends. </p><p>.</p><p>"How can you speak to animals?" </p><p>Mark looks up from his clipboard and tilts his head. "What do you mean?" He takes off the blood pressure band off of Renjun's arm and gives him a lollipop. "Thanks. I meant like how do you understand what Robert is saying? I know animals can understand what we're saying, but we can't understand what they're saying." Mark thinks for a bit. "It's kind of hard to explain. You know how District U animals are different right? Well they're different because they're zombie like. If you look closely at every animal in District U compared to other districts you'll notice they're all either white or grey. Vampires are technically dead so I guess it's kind of like the dead talking to the other dead." Renjun nods opening the lollipop. He puts it in his mouth then immediately takes it out. "Oh sorry did I give you the blood flavor?" Mark asks. He takes out another lollipop and switches it with Renjun's. "Anyways, after you done you wanna help with Donghyuck and Jeno? I can't help them myself, my brain cells will start to die out at a faster rate." Mark laughs and nods. "Sure thing! Can't have my study buddy lose all 203 of his brain cells can I?"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Quack Quack</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Zhong Chenle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Zhong Chenle the Leprechaun(?)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HELLOOO </p><p>Once again, I like to thank you for coming to read this chapter and to remind you to WEAR YOUR MASKS. I will like to go back to school peacefully without the worrying risk of Miss Rona lingering at the back of my head :)))</p><p>Enjoy the chapter uwu</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Renjun looks out the window of one of District V's famous pastry cafes. He looks at the dash of people on the streets, rushing to get to their destination. Renjun sighs. "Where is he?" He takes a bite of his egg tart and scrolls through his Instagram. The quiet cafe plays soft lofi beats in the background making Renjun very relaxed. It's the first day of spring break meaning Renjun had just finished his last round of finals. "Maybe I can just take one little nap. He'll wake me up when he gets here." Renjun thinks. He pushes the egg tart and milk tea out of the way</p><p>and he puts his head down.</p><p>Slowly, Renjun closes his eyes. </p><p>He loses consciousness.</p><p>The background noise gets fuzzier. </p><p>He slips into dreamland and-</p><p>"GEGE I'M HERE!!"</p><p>jumps up and screams from the sudden sound.</p><p>Renjun wasn't wrong when he said Chenle was going to wake him up. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun knows that Chenle is a leprechaun. Well not really. "I'm not extremely lucky" he once said. "I just turn really small. Compare me to Ant-man if you will." </p><p>And that's what Renjun does. Cause he doesn't know ANYTHING else about Chenle's abilities. </p><p>Sure the kid can turn small, but what else can he do? Renjun doesn't even know the exact name of Chenle's species. He just calls him a leprechaun cause that's the common term. He had asked Professor Qian about Chenle's species once and all he got for an answer was: "Now that I think about it, I don't think there's a specific name!" </p><p>When Renjun had first met Chenle, the younger was in high school. </p><p>Renjun was bored, so he tagged along with Jeno in his errands. They picked up some groceries, Jeno paid his half of his dorm rent, Renjun watched Jeno teach a new member of his pack how to butt head a threatening human, you know the usual. "Oh! I gotta pick Chenle up from his tutoring lessons!" Renjun didn't know who Chenle was, and just assumes he was Jeno's little brother or something. "Can't leave this lesson though, hey Renjun can you pick him up for me and drive him back here? I know you never met him before so this could be a good opportunity to meet him." It didn't seem like he had anything better to do except watching a 12 year old running his head into a mannequin like 40 times so he agreed and headed for the tutoring center in Jeno's car. </p><p>Renjun didn't realize it was a MAGIC tutoring session (of course it's magic, he doesn't know how he didn't think of that) so right as he walked in Renjun almost got hit by a ice spike. </p><p>Well that's great. </p><p>"OH MY GOODNESS ARE YOU OK?" a mother asks. Renjun assures them that he's good. The mother apologizes, makes the kid apologize, and walks out scolding the hell out of him. The lady at the front desk, who was unfazed by Renjun's near death experience, asks who he's here for. "Um, I'm here for... Ch-Chenle?" Jeno never told him his full name or anything else about this kid. Renjun only knew his first name.         </p><p>"I'm Chenle!" Renjun turns around to see a high school student sitting down at an area with a bunch of other kids. He assumes it's a pick up area for all of the students.</p><p>"Did Jeno hyung ask you to come here? Glad to finally meet you! The hyungs have told me so much about you!" Chenle gets up and smiles sweetly. </p><p>The car ride back was anything but sweet. </p><p>Renjun didn't do much. All he did was stop abruptly because of the stupid driver that was right in front of him. "Sorry Chenle! This guy suddenly just stopped and-" </p><p>Chenle wasn't there. </p><p>Renjun swore he was just there. Sitting in the seat right next to him. </p><p>Renjun drives to the side and stops the car. "Ch-Chenle? You there?" He tries to dial Jeno, but the latter doesn't answer his phone. "What do I dooooo" Renjun says in agony. He hits his head onto the steering wheel, ignoring the short honk and the scared people walking by. From his position, Renjun eyes the seat next to him. "That's odd" he thinks. The seat belt was still latched. If Chenle were to disappear, he would've unbuckled his seat belt first. Then, upon closer inspection Renjun notices a thing sitting on the seat. It was about the size of Renjun's thumb, and had the same bright blond hair Chenle wears on his head. It manages to bring its arms out of the seat belt (the belt was squishing him against the seat) and attempts to wave its arms as if saying "PLEASE HELP ME!!" </p><p>Upon request, Renjun quickly unbuckles the seat belt and lets Chenle hop onto his hand. He's saying something, but Renjun can't understand. Most likely because Renjun doesn't have super hearing or the ability to understand the words of tiny people. "I don't know what you're saying, but can you try to grow back into your normal size?" Chenle close his mouth and thinks. He points to his seat. The older assumes that he wants him to put him there. Chenle hops off and closes his eyes. After a few seconds of silence, a green glow shimmers around Chenle's tiny body. He was growing bigger which was a good thing, but a car honk messes up his focus causing him to shrink back to his original size. </p><p>"Well, I guess you can just sit in the cup holder yeah?" Renjun says cleaning out one of the cup holders. Chenle visibly sighs and jumps in once Renjun is done. </p><p>.</p><p>Chenle is from the busy city of Shanghai, China and a well off family (he rarely talks about them, most likely because he's uncomfortable talking about his wealth). Renjun wasn't really surprised to hear that since Chenle's Korean has an accent. However, he was impressed by the amount of languages Chenle could learn in a short amount of time. Granted it's broken, but it's more then the average learner. Chenle was actually able to hold a basic conversation with Mark in English once when they were playing Mafia, and won that one round. </p><p>The younger is always seen with Jisung. They first met each other in elementary school. As soon as they made eye contact with each other: boom best friends forever and ever until we die bitch. They never ask "where's Chenle?" or "have you seen Jisung?" to people, because they always know where the other is. "I swear it's like they smell each other from a mile away. It's so weird" says Jeno, the actual werewolf.</p><p>Chenle is also one hell of a extrovert. Sure, he hangs out with Jisung, but most of the time he also hangs out with his Chinese friends, his classmates, his cousins, that one guy selling hot dogs in the street-</p><p>The point is that he has connections. </p><p>Immediately as soon as Chenle's freshman year of college started, he made at least 5 new friends. Renjun often thinks that the reason why he doesn't bother to unpack is because he's busy meeting his new classmates. Till this day, Chenle has like one or two boxes packed in the corner of his room which makes Renjun go crazy ("THEY'RE JUST YOUR SHOES, WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT TAKING THEM OUT OF A BOX!?!?!). </p><p>Did you know that Chenle got stuck in his high school's vents to break Jisung out of detention? </p><p>It's a funny story actually, Renjun can never forget about it even if he tries. </p><p>Everyone had just gotten back from winter break. It was a new year, new semester, and new load of work that Renjun has to stay up till like 3 to finish. </p><p>Somehow on the first day of school, Jisung manages to get into trouble. </p><p>"Sorry hyungs I have detention until like 3:30" he says on the phone. The group was supposed to go out for dinner at Jeno's workplace to celebrate the new year. "What did you do? It's the first day of school!!" Mark exclaims. </p><p>"I accidentally threw a paper airplane into my teacher's eye" </p><p>"Why were you throwing around airplanes in the first place?" </p><p>"There was something in his hair! I didn't want to embarrass him so I- oh gotta go my sentence begins now"  </p><p>Mark pinches the bridge of nose and says "Ok, I'll order take out for you and deliver it to your apartment." He hangs up and turns to the gang. "Well, Jisung's not coming. He threw a paper airplane into his teacher's eye."  "Why the heck would he do that??" Jeno asks alarmed. Mark shrugs and types something on his phone. "Where's Chenle by the way?" As soon as Mark says that, Renjun's phone rings. He pulls it out and reads the caller ID. </p><p>"Smol idiot #1" </p><p>It was Chenle. </p><p>"Hello? Where are you? We're all here waiting at the ramen resturant!" There was a bit of shuffling coming from the other line. "I uh... I'm stuck" Renjun makes a confused noise. Chenle sighs. "I'm stuck in the school's vents." There was a pause. Jeno, Mark, and Donghyuck eagerly look at Renjun hoping that Chenle is nearby so they could eat. Alas, nothing goes in their favor. </p><p>"HOW ARE YOU SO CALM??" Renjun shouts. </p><p>.</p><p>Quickly, Jeno drives his car over to District U. "I am so confused. In what way did Chenle think breaking Jisung out of detention via air vent was a good idea??" Mark asks. </p><p>"I dunno. I blame all of the spy movies Jeno keeps showing him."</p><p>"HEY! They are CLASSICS, why would I not show the next generation my favorite spy movies??" </p><p>"Jeno, he's only a year younger then you." </p><p>It was a chaotic ride there, but they managed. </p><p>Upon coming to view, Neo High looks like your average Asian high school. With the huge gate, and three long buildings hovering over a gigantic soccer field,  Renjun felt a nostalgia being reminded of his old high school back in Jilin. "Man, I haven't been here for a while!" Jeno says. He parks in the guest parking lot. "Ok guys, if anyone asks we are "waiting" for Jisung to be released from prison." Mark says.</p><p>"Detention" Renjun corrects </p><p>"Detention" Donghyuck and Jeno make a dumb salute and say "yes sir!" in unison as if they were going to sneak around the Blue House for the country's most protected secrets. Technically, THEY'RE the country's most protected secret, but we're not going to talk about that.</p><p>They get out of the car and start walking to the front of the school.</p><p>"Uh does anyone remember where the office is?" Jeno asks.</p><p>"Can I help you boys with anything?" The four turn around to whoever was talking. "Ms. Go!" Jeno says hesitantly. "Ms. Go", who Renjun assumes is his friend's old teacher, is staring at them with so much suspicion that it starting to make all four of them sweat. "Hi Jeno, Donghyuck, Mark, and... you are??" Renjun chuckles weakly. "I-I'm Huang Renjun. I go to the same uni as them." Ms. Go shapes her mouth into a O. "Ah, so you are the new human student yes? Well I am very honored to meet you." She rearranges the books in her arms. "Now, what are you boys doing here? Are you going to get Jisung out of detention cause if you are that is not happening." Well they were here less for Jisung more for Chenle. </p><p>"Uh, less breaking him out more waiting for him. We understand that throwing a paper airplane into your teacher's eye is unacceptable behavior and we uh are going to scold him heavily once he serves his sentence." Mark says.</p><p>"Dude, we're not his parents" Donghyuck whispers </p><p>"Shut up" Renjun whispers back. </p><p>Ms. Go raises an eyebrow but shrugs. She had dealt with these boys before and is already losing her energy by just talking to them. "Alright, go to the office and get a guest pass and wait there. Do not and I mean DO NOT walk around campus. Your friend Chenle is already getting on my nerves." </p><p>They nod like bobble heads. "The office is this way!" Jeno yells. "No yelling or running! You boys know this!" Ms. Go shouts back calmly. </p><p>They walked very quietly to the office at a fast pace. </p><p>.</p><p>"Ok what now" Donghyuck whispers. The four got their passes, and are sitting in the office. "Renjun did you bring any invisibility potions?" Mark asks. "Are you kidding me? Potions are heavy as fuck!" Renjun whispers back. He looks outside of the window. There wasn't much people. Most of them were either in classrooms, outside, or in the teacher's office. "I didn't go to this school so no one here knows who I am. I'll go look for Chenle."  The other three look at each other and nod. "Stay away from Ms. Go ok?" Jeno whispers. Renjun nods then heads out of the office. </p><p>.</p><p>"Chenle" Renjun whispers. He hopes to the next available deity that no one will walk into their classroom to see this random dude whispering into the air vents.  </p><p>It doesn't matter though, Chenle is not answering. Renjun forgot his phone at the office and is too lazy to sprint back to get it. His only option is to go into each classroom and find a vent to whisper yell into. </p><p>"Ugh, where the heck is he??" He jumps off of the chair he was standing on and puts it back to its respective desk. Renjun walks out of the classroom, closes the door, and peeks into the next one. Bingo, he found Jisung's prison cage. </p><p>"Jiiiissunnnggg" he whispers. Jisung, who was looking out of a window, turns to whoever was calling his name. "Hyung!" Jisung whispers back. Renjun looks around to see if anyone sees him. He creeps to Jisung and sits in the desk next to him. "Ok problem" Renjun says a little louder. "Chenle was trying to break you out from detention but he got stuck in the vents. Do you have any idea whe-" </p><p>"He's right in there." Jisung says nonchalantly, pointing to something on the wall. </p><p>Of course, Renjun had forgot that the two have GPS trackers for each other built right into their brains. </p><p>"I tried to unlock the vent but I have weak hands." </p><p>Renjun rolls his eyes. "My hands are much smaller then your gigantic ones what makes you think I could open it." Jisung shrugs. "I dunno, I thought Jeno hyung or Jaemin hyung would come to open the vent." Renjun sighs and gets up from the desk. He grabs the chair and uses it to hoist himself up to look into the vent. "Chenle!" In the vent was the same little thing Renjun had seen when he first met the younger. This time instead of the bright blond hair, Renjun sees a calmer brown. </p><p>"GEGE! PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE" </p><p>Of course Renjun doesn't understand what he's saying (he actually tried to find solutions to this problem, but alas humans will never have the ability to understand tiny creatures). He tries to open the screws of the vent, but as said before Renjun has tiny hands. "Frick, I'm going to try get Jeno or Mark hyung to open this I'll be right back." As Renjun hops off of the chair he freezes. </p><p>He hears Ms. Go's voice outside. </p><p>"QUICK GET INTO THE CLEANING CLOSET!!" Jisung says. </p><p>Renjun spots the closet immediately and climbs in. Thanks to his smol structure, Renjun was able to fit into the skinny closet without being too cramped. </p><p>"Hi Jisung, just checking on you did you write your apology letter?" Ms. Go says. </p><p>"Yes I have it right here" Jisung replies. </p><p>There was a moment of silence. "Good, now I want you to give that to Mr. Park before you leave. Don't do anything stupid or else you'll get more hours." </p><p>Renjun didn't like how she stressed the word stupid as if she knew he was hiding in the room. </p><p>"Your friends are waiting for you in the office so don't make them wait." A bit of silence, then footsteps walking out of the classroom. There was more silence until Jisung whispers. "Ok she's gone come out now." </p><p>"I'm queer" </p><p>"Hyung"  </p><p>"Sorry, it's a habit of mine." Renjun opens the closet door and carefully tries not to knock all of the supplies in fear that Ms. Go is around the corner listening for his existence. He looks back to see if there was anything he could unscrew with. Nothing, he has to get Jeno. </p><p>"I'm going to get Jeno, stay put!" he says and quickly walks to the door. When he opens it, Ms. Go is standing right in front of him. </p><p>"Ms. Go!" Renjun says. Ms. Go continues to stare at him. Renjun gulps, then shouts: "CHENLE RUN TO THE OFFICE VENTS!!" He pushes Ms. Go to the side (don't worry he said excuse me) and starts to run for the office. Right as he sees it, Ms. Go teleports right in front of him. "AHH" Renjun shouts and accidentally triggers a force field around him, causing him to roll uncontrollably towards the end of the hall. Jeno, Mark, and Donghyuck who heard the noise runs out of the office to see Renjun crash into a wall. "I told you not to get caught!!" Jeno shouts. Mark nudges him in the side, but it was too late. Ms. Go lifts Renjun up with one hand and turns to the group. "I will call your university and ask to give you four detention for the next 2 hours." </p><p>"GUYS OPEN THE VENT!!" </p><p>Jeno's ears perk up, but so does Ms.Go's. Jeno runs back into the office with Mark and Donghyuck. Ms. Go teleports into the office right in front of the vent before Jeno could get to it. "Well I guess all SIX of you will stay in detention today. Who else do I need to call in? Mr. Na-" </p><p>Chenle manages to lay on his back and grow, kicking the vent door off. He also accidentally threw Ms. Go and Renjun to the other side of the office. </p><p>"OH MY GOD ARE YOU OK?? I AM SO SORRY I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE STANDING THERE" Chenle says once he gets out. </p><p>All five of them met Jisung in detention once Dean Lee gave Ms. Go permission. </p><p>.</p><p> "YOU SCARED ME" Renjun yells. Chenle laughs, very amused at his gege's reaction. "Sorry! I wanted to wake you up in my own special way!" Renjun rolls his eyes then smiles. "Shake me gently next time." Chenle nods and looks at Renjun's pastries. He grabs the egg tart and takes a quick bite before zooming off to the counter. Renjun, who was used to Chenle eating his food, only shakes his head. "Get the strawberry cake! I heard it's good here!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you guys want to name whatever the heck Chenle's species is go ahead. I may not use it because I already wrote most of these chapters in advance, but it will be nice to have some sort of name cause I know leprechauns don't have... the abilities that Chenle has...</p><p>Wink Wink :)))</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Park Jisung</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Park Jisung the ice fae</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi, hi! We are getting close to the introductory part of the fic! Thank you guys so much for sticking around! I appreciate the support you guys give this story~</p><p>Once again a reminder to give time out of your day to educate yourself on a world issue. It doesn't hurt to keep up on what is happening in present time. </p><p>Also please wear your mask. If you can wear your seatbelt in the car, you can wear a mask on a trip to the grocery store. </p><p>Thanks luv! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Renjun looks through the fences of the dim high school. He's picking up Jisung to go to District Dream with their friends. It was around the last few days of the school year and both Jisung and Renjun had finished their exams. The bell rings and the gates of the school start to slowly open. A flood of high school students start to walk out, not minding the human standing right there (thank goodness, Renjun can't count how many times people had stared at him). Out comes a tall boy with grayish and silver hair in a maroon school uniform. He looks right then left as if he's looking for someone. He spots Renjun, smiles, and starts to walk towards him.</p><p>"I'm finished hyung!" </p><p>.</p><p>You know that song with the words "ice ice baby" repeated like 5 times in the intro? That's how you describe Jisung; a ice baby. </p><p>Out of all of his friends, Renjun finds Jisung the second cutest (him being the first). "You're like that little fire lizard from Frozen" he once said to him. Jisung had replied back, "hyung that lizard is a fire spirit, he has nothing to do with ice."</p><p>Jisung is a ice fae. Nothing special, he's just the baby, male version of Elsa.</p><p>Get this though. Usually during childhood, faes get used to their powers. Jisung is a special case however. First of all, his elemental power isn't part of the main four (fire, water, wind, and earth). Second, ice is one of the most deadliest elementals a person could possess (others being fire, lightning, and poison gas). Third, Jisung was so scared about his powers, he managed to restrict them for 12 years. That's why his hair is silver, it's the result of 12 years of pent up ice crystals in his system. </p><p>He's a good kid though. Jisung actually studied many spells, potions, and the language of arctic foxes (Renjun doesn't know why he studied specifically foxes. Honestly, the boy seems more of a bunny type). He's one of the top 10 of his class, and all of his teachers love him (well except for Mr. Park). Jisung seems to rely more on potions rather then his own powers for defense however. Once when Jisung and Chenle had their exam (they were supposed to use their powers in defense in a match against students their skill level and age), in where Renjun had to painfully watch Jisung fumble with a bunch glass bottles before being scared by his teacher and accidentally encasing his opponent in ice. </p><p>He won though. </p><p>That reminds Renjun of the time they first met. </p><p>It was the beginning of Renjun's freshman year in college and Jisung's junior year in high school. Days after Renjun met Chenle, Jeno gave him the task to pick Chenle and Jisung up from school as "a way to bond and become friends." At the time, Renjun did not know who Jisung was. He got his first glimpse of Jisung when he saw Chenle dragging a boy with bright, but pale, blond hair that was like 3 inches taller then him.</p><p>"Hi gege! Jisung say hi!" Chenle says. The boy looks at Renjun with widen eyes. "Oh! You're Renjun hyung? Hi! Nice to meet you!" Jisung brought out his hand for a shake and Renjun followed the request. </p><p>Cold was all Renjun felt. </p><p>"Ah sorry, did the hyungs tell you I'm a ice fae?" The "hyungs" (presumably Donghyuck, Jeno, and Mark) tell Renjun nothing about anything. "No, they don't tell me stuff, but it's cool to know you have ice as your element!" Jisung hides his face behind his bangs. "Well.. less cool more frightening." Chenle hits Jisung in the back of his head. "Hey! I said no depressing dialogue. Gege, Donghyuck hyung told us that you'll take us out for bubble tea, is that true?" </p><p>Renjun hasn't been told anything other then to bring these two kids to Jeno's and Donghyuck's dorm, but he couldn't resist the look on these two babies. </p><p>"Yeah! Let's go!" </p><p>20 minutes into their boba hang out, Jisung somehow freezes his math homework. </p><p>He didn't really react. He just puts down his icy textbook on the ground very quietly and sighs. </p><p>Then he started banging his head on the table. </p><p>"WHY *bang* ME *bang* GOD *bang* I *bang* DIDN'T *bang* ASK *bang* TO *bang* BE *bang* BORN *bang*." </p><p>Renjun, who was genuinely concerned about Jisung's skull, tries to calm him down. When he said, "it's ok Jisung, I'm sure you'll learn how to control it" Jisung looks up with wide eyes and replies back "Only the power of a thousand souls will melt my frozen heart." </p><p>Well damn</p><p>Chenle, surprisingly, but not really, quietly types out his paper while drinking his boba tea. When Jisung began to hit his head on the table again, he says calmly; "Stop, you're gonna freeze the table." </p><p>At least that manages to stop him. </p><p>"Ok, I don't really know anything about ice powers, but I also have a elemental power myself. Well it's weaker then the average fae, but I am learning how to control it. Do you want me to give you my notes from my elemental class? We could also practice together if you will like." </p><p>And that's when Renjun saw the most endearing thing on the planet. The expression that can cure cancer, solve world hunger, and create world peace.</p><p>Jisung's pouty face </p><p>"R-really?" he asks so innocently. Renjun nods and immediately digs into his backpack for his laptop. "Here, let's go take a look at my notes!!" </p><p>From that day on, Renjun and Jisung had spent weekends together, practicing in his dorm then Cherry Park (Renjun's roommate had kicked them out cause he was afraid the dorm will just turn into a frozen jungle). </p><p>.</p><p>Aside from being a quivering bean during social interactions (same bro, same), Jisung is a great dancer. He dances with Jeno often, and is even trying to get into Neo University solely because of the dance team. "Their dance team is the best team in the whole city! It has been my goal to be part of that team." He got in both the school and team, obviously, and was able to get a dance scholarship that pays for two years of tuition. Granted it would've been nice to get all four years, but it was enough for young Jisung. </p><p>Oh, that reminds Renjun of a episode. </p><p>During spring break, the future freshmen of Neo University were invited to go on a tour. Renjun had been asked to speak for the elemental department as a human by Dean Lee. Feeling honored, he says yes right away and gets to his elemental classroom early to set up his presentation. </p><p>Renjun isn't bad for a human being. Granted, his powers are a bit weaker then say Donghyuck's or his other classmates, but he's able to identify situations on when he needs to use a certain part of his elemental. It makes sense for Dean Lee to choose Renjun as a spokesperson. </p><p>As he is preparing the room by setting up Professor Qian's projector, clearing any trash or objects left behind in the lecture seats, and clearing an area for demos, Renjun hears a knock on the door. It was a bit quiet and hesitant. If Renjun wasn't paying attention, he would've missed it. He walks to the door and opens it a crack fearing that some of the freshmen wanted to get a sneak peek at the classroom.</p><p>"H-hi hyung" </p><p>"Jisung! Hey!" Renjun exclaims. He lets Jisung into the classroom. Renjun trusts the guy wouldn't give a damn about the classroom. He starts heading back to the front of the room. "Bro, I forgot you're coming here for college. Are you excited? I heard that the dance team is gonna- woahhh dude you look dead" Indeed, Jisung looked dead. His hair is disheveled, had eye bags that are larger then Renjun's future, and eyes that look like they're going to snap shut at any minute. "Huh? Oh.. I was so nervous about today I didn't get any sleep so I just stayed up studying heh." Renjun makes Jisung sit down in one of the lecture seats. "Are you going to be ok? I'd rather you reschedule the tour then have you faint." Jisung weakly shakes his hand. "Nah, I'll be ok. I just drank Jaemin hyung's 4 shot espresso coffee so I should be good." </p><p>"Jisung, that crap can give you a heart attack" </p><p>Jisung opens his mouth, then shakes his head. "I'll be fine. Uh hyung, d-do you remember the first chapter we went over? You know the one when we first met?" Renjun thinks. "Oh yeah! Gosh that was such a long time ago! It's the one about emotions and control right?" Jisung nods his head. Renjun takes note of the nervous expression on the younger's face. "Why? You have better control over your powers now, you should have no problem." Jisung sighs. "Y-yeah, but I remember reading something about being overly exhausted and when being overly exhausted you lose much more control over your powers." </p><p>Ah, Renjun gets what he's saying. </p><p>"I'm sure you'll be fine" he says taking a seat next to Jisung. "Just don't think about it too much! The more you think about it, the more you're prone to do it" Jisung nods and takes a deep breath. Renjun pats the younger's head. "You'll be fine Jisung." </p><p>He wasn't fine, he froze Robert during a demo. </p><p>Nobody really knows how Robert got into the classroom (they don't like questioning the duck too much). The demo was to make a shape of your elemental spirit. Believe it or not, it is actually difficult to make a shape because it requires the natural spirit of a elemental so of course it was a challenge for these kids. </p><p>Jisung was focused on making his ball. It was coming together very nicely, nothing was bothering him, nothing was poking at him. </p><p>Robert was waddling around the classroom. He spots a familiar face and decides to say hi to one of his favorite non-ducks by giving a loud "QUACK" </p><p>Jisung gives back a loud "AHHHHHH" and accidentally freezes the poor duck in a ice cube, scaring his classmates who were also in deep focus. Renjun and Professor Qian just stand there staring at the ice encased duck and a Jisung who looks like he's about to faint. </p><p>"Ah haha, well that's the end of this section! Renjun why don't you take this young man and his... duck outside will ya?" Professor Qian says which is a nicer version of "UNFREEZE THAT DUCK OR SO HELP ME." </p><p>Renjun grabs Jisung's wrist, scoops Robert up and yeets out the door. </p><p>.</p><p>For the next 20 minutes, Renjun, Jisung, Donghyuck, Jeno, and Chenle stand in Renjun's dorm room staring at Robert. "Ok, let's not panic-"</p><p>"WHAT DO YOU MEAN LET'S NOT PANIC?? I'VE JUST FROZE MARK HYUNG'S SON. CHILD. KIDDO. BLOOD RELATIVE. THE DIRECT UNDERLING OF THE LEE CLAN-"</p><p>Chenle slaps his mouth shut. "Jisung you're freezing the floor of the room calm down." Jisung looks down and yelps. "We'll just have to figure out how to unfreeze him until Mark hyung comes back from his internship. Hyuck what time is he supposed to come back?" Jeno asks. </p><p>"In an hour" </p><p>Jisung slowly curls up into a ball on the ground and whines in agony. "What? You asked me and I gave you an answer!" Donghyuck says. Renjun shakes his head. "An hour is all we need, Donghyuck take Robert to District Dream and try thaw him there, Jeno and Chenle distract Mark hyung as much as possible, Jisung we're gonna find out how to unfreeze this guy, is that clear?" Donghyuck grabs Robert and takes out a pairs of sunglasses then walks out the door with Chenle and Jeno behind him. Jisung uncurls himself and gives a thumbs up. </p><p>"Ok, let's go through my notes and textbooks" </p><p>20 minutes pass and they couldn't come up with anything. </p><p>"How about instead, we pick out a nice cozy coffin for me to lay in, plan my funeral, start booting up my death Spotify playlist-" </p><p>"No, Jisung you're not gonna die today you hear me? YOU AIN'T GONNA PERISH" Renjun says, shaking Jisung's shoulders. </p><p>Jisung weakly nods his head and yawns. "Ugh, I'm so tired. Should've tried to drink some milk last night." Renjun stares at Jisung. He's getting more tired by the minute. At this rate he won't have enough energy to even stand on his feet. </p><p>Light bulb </p><p>The older gets up from his desk and drags Jisung to his bed. "H-hyung what are you doing??" he asks frantically. "Just relax" Renjun says, putting his blanket over Jisung's body. He goes to turn on his humidifier. "You're not going to be able to do anything if you're so dead tired so for the next 30 minutes just go to sleep." Renjun says going to turn off the lights. "But what if I don't wake up in time?!" </p><p>"Don't worry. I'm going to be in the living room searching up what to do. Just sleep comfortably and I'll wake you up in a jiffy ok?" Jisung nods and yawns. He sinks under Renjun's blanket and immediately falls asleep. Renjun goes back to his desk and grabs his laptop and books. "Ok $900 textbooks don't fail me now!" he whispers to himself. </p><p>.</p><p>"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MARK HYUNG'S DONE EARLY???" </p><p>It has only been 3 minutes until Renjun receives a call from Jeno. </p><p>"I don't know apparently the doctor he's shadowing is not here today so he just sat there, stared at charts, then got excused to go home!" Jeno says. Renjun rubs his forehead. He can't wake Jisung up now. One he's going to be in a deep sleep making it very difficult to wake up and two the baby needs his quote on quote beauty rest to stay healthy. </p><p>"Ok, as long as Donghyuck stays in District Dream everything should be good." Renjun says, trying to calm himself down more then Jeno. </p><p>"Uh, that's the problem?? Mark wants to go to the beach and we can't contact Donghyuck. I think he turned his phone off." </p><p>Renjun takes a deep breath, trying not to scream in fear of waking Jisung up. He takes out a notepad and writes a little note for Jisung just in case he wakes up early. "Where are you guys right now?" he asks. "Currently Chenle is trying to hold onto Mark hyung at the hospita- CHENLE LET GO OH GOD" </p><p>"Hello? Hello?? Jeno?? EARTH TO JENO??" Jeno hung up. "It's ok Renjun, you're ok just get your stuff and run to District Dream you can do this" Renjun whispers to himself in Chinese. He grabs his phone and keys and runs out the door to take the next bus to District Dream. </p><p>.</p><p>As soon as the bus nears the beach, Renjun hits the stop button and runs out of the door. He sees Jeno who seems to be on the phone with someone, frantically looking around the busy streets of tourists. "JENO" Jeno turns around. "Renjun! Mark hyung took off with Chenle hanging onto him and I don't know where they are" he says, putting away his phone in his pocket. "Let's just look for Donghyuck and Rob- THERE OVER THERE!" Jeno turns around to where Renjun is pointing. Mark is seen trying to wrestle Chenle off of his body. </p><p>"Chenle let. go!" </p><p>"NEVER! NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!" </p><p>"You wanna test that notion bro? My lifespan can be up to 10 million if I'm healthy!" Renjun and Jeno run over to them. When Mark hears their footsteps he waves. "Guys get him off of me!" Instead of doing that, Renjun and Jeno do the complete opposite and cling onto him. "GUYS OH MY GOD YOU'RE NOT HELPING AT ALL!" </p><p>"MARK HYUNG WE JUST LOVE YOUU" Jeno shouts, grabbing strange looks from people nearby. </p><p>"WELL THAT'S REALLY SWEET AND ALL BUT I JUST WANT TO GO TO THE BEACH AND RELAX THANK YOU VERY MUCH" Mark replies back trying to walk. </p><p>"WE JUST DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE A ROBERTSICLE!" Chenle shouts. He slaps his hand over his mouth upon confessing. Mark slowly turns his head around. "A whatsicle?" Renjun, Jeno, and Chenle stay still and stare at Mark's confused and concerned face. After a few seconds of silence, Jeno uses his weight to make everyone fall over. "RENJUN CHENLE GET TO DONGHYUCK QUICK. I'LL HOLD MARK HYUNG DOWN."</p><p>"WHAT? HUANG RENJUN, ZHONG CHENLE GET YOUR ASSES BACK HERE RIGHT N- OW JENO THAT HURTS" </p><p>Renjun and Chenle sprint to the beach, dodging every person in the way. Once the beach comes to view, they spot Donghyuck's sliver head sitting in a beach chair with a ice cube, which was barely melted, sitting right next to him. "DONGHYUCK!" Renjun shouts. Donghyuck jolts then turns to see Renjun and Chenle coming full speed at him. "Woah, woah what the heck is going on? Did Jeno get lost on a boat again??" Donghyuck says, clearly sleepy behind his aviators. </p><p>"MARK HYUNG-, AHH" Chenle yells as Mark full speed tackles Chenle to the sand. Donghyuck, now clearly awake, jumps from his beach chair. "WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?? WAIT WHERE'S JISUNG???" Mark gets up from the sand. He turns around and jumps back upon seeing Robert in a ice cube. "W-WHY IS HE IN A ICE CUBE?? W-WHO FROZE HIM??? OW! CHENLE MY HAIR!!" </p><p>It was chaos. Donghyuck and Renjun were shouting at each other. Chenle and Mark were wrestling on the sand. Jeno was hugging the ice cube and crying. Honestly, to them it was another Wednesday. </p><p>Suddenly, Jeno was pushed off of the ice cube and fell onto the pile that is Mark and Chenle. Snowflakes start rising from the cube into a swirl. The swirl is turned by hand which turns out to be Jisung's, until the ice cube is no longer encasing Robert in his icy captivity. When the cube is gone, Jisung does a few hand turns, then pushes the swirl to make it burst into tiny snowflakes. Robert, who didn't know what was going on, bumps into Mark who scoops him up to hug him. "Oh Robert are you ok?" He looks up at Jisung avoiding eye contact with him. "Jisung, did you freeze him?" Jisung nods. "I'm really sorry hyung. I was really tired today, and Robert kind of scared me which caused me to freeze him. I'm really sorry, how can I make it up to you?" </p><p>Mark shakes his head and gets up from the sand. "I'm not mad. I'm honestly impressed. You were able to freeze Robert in a perfect cube then unfreeze him so calmly!" Robert nods and wiggles out of Mark's arms and flies into Jisung's. "Awwe, I'm sorry Robert, hope you can forgive me" Robert quacks and rubs his head against Jisung's chest. </p><p>"That was fast though, I thought it would've took you longer to wake up." Renjun says, a little surprised. "Oh! Jaemin hyung came back to the dorm and gave me a lift here!" </p><p>"Jaemin?" Renjun thinks. A pink haired male behind Jisung steps out and waves his hand. "Look he's alive!" Donghyuck jokes. The rest laugh, then head back to the bus station together to get back to District 127. </p><p>.</p><p>"Hey do you remember when you were able to unfreeze Robert?" Renjun says. Jisung looks up. "All the sudden?" Renjun nods, smiling. "Of course I do, that was what like two months ago?" Renjun nudges Jisung and laughs. "Hey! That's still a pretty long time ago! Come on the bus is going to come at any minute!" Jisung nods and they both run to the nearest bus stop.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Let it go~ Let it go~</p><p>Can't hold it back anymore~~~</p><p>If Jisung actually sings that in real life I'll shed a tear.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Na Jaemin</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Na Jaemin</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK </p><p>He's not going to see that, but I will put it there anyway lololol </p><p>Anyways, he's here! Jaemin finally appears! </p><p>Remember to wear your masks!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You're probably wondering where Jaemin was all this time huh.</p><p>Don't worry, Renjun doesn't know either. </p><p> </p><p>Na Jaemin is a weird one. Renjun doesn't really have that many funny stories about the boy. </p><p>It's strange, cause he's the latter's roommate. Naturally one would think there would be some fun episodes in the two years they lived together. Something like "oh he set the kitchen on fire!" or "Renjun locked Jaemin out of the dorm for 24 hours after not doing the dishes!" </p><p>Nothing, Renjun's got nothing. He's a dry Jaemin sponge (the author also finds that phrase weird and is not sorry :))) ). </p><p>The only things he knows about Jaemin are: </p><p>1) The latter is a vamp</p><p>2) He disappears at the same time everyday to who knows where</p><p>Renjun did tried to ask Jaemin about his afternoon disappearances, but the latter would either ignore him or try to talk about something else.</p><p>"Did you finish that essay?" or "I heard Jeno and Hyuck are going to go to the beach later today, wanna join?" is what Renjun would hear whenever he asks. </p><p>Oh! He knows that Jaemin is a caffeine addict, and that he's a vegetarian. </p><p>Fun fact: Jaemin likes to drink 4 shot Americanos everyday. 6 shots if he's feeling rebellious. </p><p>"It's fine Renjun, I'm a big boy I can handle it" Jaemin would say before taking a long sip from his cup. </p><p>Jaemin also likes to drink cherry juice instead of animal blood. </p><p>"They're too precious! I don't want to kill anyone or anything!" When Renjun asked why he wouldn't drink strawberry juice as its one of the most popular flavors among vampires, Jaemin replied with "ugh, don't even MENTION it. It tastes so artificial."</p><p>Well that's more then what Renjun had expected to know.<br/>.</p><p>There is something off about Jaemin though. As if he's hiding more then just where he disappears to.</p><p>Jaemin is a very shifty dude. Most of the time he's very quiet, only speaking to Jeno or when he's high on caffeine (which is most of the time, but we're not talking about that).</p><p>"Oh he's always been like that don't worry." Donghyuck had said once. "We all tried to talk to him, but the guy won't budge. He's a great dude though, don't let his silence scare you." </p><p>It scares Renjun a lot. </p><p>Jaemin is especially shady around Renjun. Always keeping a eye on him, always staying close by him. Renjun just thinks it's because he's a human, but he feels like there's a deeper reason. The group notices too, and they like to tease the hell out of Jaemin. </p><p>"Awee, he's worried about Renjun." </p><p>"Hey! Why don't you ever tried to protect me like this?" </p><p>"Jaemin hyung: Renjun hyung's personal bodyguard."</p><p>If you're wondering "why, just tell us the first time they first met!" Renjun would if he could. When Renjun first met Jaemin, they just had a short breakfast together then walked to class. Jaemin didn't even move into the dorm until a month after the school year had started (his excuse was that he had admission problems). </p><p>That's why when Jaemin arrived with Jisung to the beach on the day Robert was frozen, Renjun was very shocked. </p><p>It was out of Jaemin's schedule. He shouldn't have been with them at that hour. Renjun should know, cause he kept count how many hours Jaemin was out and what time the latter would leave. For the last year and a half, Jaemin had not ever messed up that schedule. </p><p>"How come you're here with us at this hour?" Renjun asked when they were all at the bus stop. Jaemin turned to him and tilted his head. "What do you mean?" he asked. "You always disappear around this time to who knows where." Renjun replies back. It was for a fast second, but Renjun caught a little smile that formed on Jaemin's face. "So, you notice when I'm gone?" he asks in a strange tone. Renjun nods. </p><p>"Why aren't you a curious fellow?" Jaemin says and turns to face the streets. </p><p>Renjun rolls his eyes and does the same. They don't talk and listen to their friends chat about something they don't really care about. The bus arrives and they all pile on. Chenle and Jisung sit next to each other with Robert in Jisung's arms. Jeno holds onto the rails and talks to Donghyuck and Mark who sat together. Renjun and Jaemin sit in the back, shoulders touching in the tight bus. </p><p>"You know, curiosity is a curse." </p><p>Renjun turns his head towards Jaemin. Jaemin's head is faced towards the window, viewing all of the colors of Cherry Park wiz by. "Sure it can lead you to some treasures, some exciting things, but it can also lead you to some scary things too. Things that can hurt you and the people you love." </p><p>"What the heck" Renjun thinks. </p><p>"Don't take my words lightly Renjun." Jaemin says. He turns to Renjun with a expression he can't make out. "Don't ever try to find out when and where I disappear to and don't ever get curious again." </p><p>Those words had stuck with Renjun ever since. Of course that doesn't stop him. It just makes him more curious.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fun fact: Sort of based Jaemin's character off of Lee Seunggi's character in You're All Surrounded. Gosh, I love that drama.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Note #2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hellow :3</p><p>Thank you guys so much for making this far into the story!! I really appreciate the fact that you guys are taking your time out to read.. whatever this is ^^. This is a little note telling you that the intro is officially over and we will now take a dive into the actual plot of the story. Though there are some things you must know: </p><p>A. There will be some profile chapters here and there. This time, it is essential for you to read them because they connect to the plot. </p><p>B. I am currently writing chapters in advance so that way I can just upload them on a weekly basis. However, I am not done with the story yet so if there is a time when I suddenly am updating much slower that means I didn't prepare a chapter in advance yet so be prepared just in case.</p><p>Also as I was writing this, I have sort of turned this into a crime fic (damn you You're All Surrounded for inspiring me) so there will be mentions of murder and dead bodies. There will be trigger warnings on the top of each chapter that involves a mention of a dead body so if you don't want to read that chapter you can just skip it, though you will miss some plot. </p><p>Welp, that's my fair warning to you guys. Again thank you so much for reading Neo City. Hope you guys can stick around till the end! </p><p>In preparation of the real plot, here are some facts about the story and our boys! </p><p>Thank you guys once again! </p><p>-MmmCherries</p><p>.</p><p>Trigger Warnings: </p><p>Once again there will be mentions of a dead body at some point of the story. I will try to make it as mild as possible when it comes to describing said body for imagination, but if you are a squeamish person or are uncomfortable with the idea of a dead body be free to click away. There will also be mentions of some sort of behavior that is similar to a panic or anxiety attack at some point so once again, if it makes you uncomfortable click away. </p><p> </p><p>Facts about Characters: </p><p>Huang Renjun; Human With Powers (nature, force fields, and telekinesis): </p><p>-Elemental Spells major; Art minor <br/>-Like said before, no one including Renjun have no idea where his powers came from <br/>-Renjun is both stubborn and curious. When he notices something weird, he won't stop searching for clues until his questions are answered <br/>-Boba snob (only wants to drink Taiwanese boba because it's "authentic") <br/>-Spends most of his time either drawing star constellations, vigorously studying, or hanging out with his friends. </p><p>Na Jaemin; Vampire </p><p>-Photography major; Strength and Speed minor <br/>-Disappears specifically at 3pm every day and comes back around 10 at night (his schedule will now be changed because of Renjun) <br/>-Most of the time is quiet but when high on caffeine very hyper <br/>-Visits the same Starbucks everyday and refuses to go to another one (coffee snob) <br/>-A bit weaker then most vampires </p><p>Lee Donghyuck; Haechan; Merman</p><p>-Elemental Spells major; Music minor <br/>-Has like 800k subscribers on YouTube <br/>-The only person other then Renjun and Mark who didn't go to the same middle school as Jisung, Chenle, Jaemin, and Jeno (he went to a all merpeople school in Young City, a merpeople city underwater) <br/>-Refuses to touch a James Charles or a Morphe pallete ("what if their drama rubs off on me??")<br/>-Lived in the ocean 85% of his life, so he didn't have the chance to practice his elemental powers on land</p><p>Lee Jeno; Werewolf</p><p>-Dance Major; Strength and Speed minor <br/>-Prefers to do everything in his dog form <br/>-One of the choreographers of Neo Uni's dance team <br/>-Cries when stressed<br/>-If he turns into his wolf form, RUN</p><p>Mark Lee; Vampire</p><p>-Biology Major<br/>-Wants to become one of Neo City's first vampire doctors (most doctors in Neo City are ghosts) <br/>-Has goodies regularly shipped from Canada <br/>-Met Hyuck at the high school and instantly became whipped for him (though he says it's the other way around)<br/>-Came to Korea for high school, then stayed for college (his family moved back though)</p><p>Zhong Chenle; Leprechaun (??)</p><p>-Foreign Language major<br/>-99.8% of the time will be with Jisung <br/>-Casually drops facts about himself like it's nothing ("Lol yeah, my house has a pool and a plantation not a big deal")<br/>-Bickers with Renjun in Chinese <br/>-Has a tiny bed next to his regular on just in case he wants to feel smol uwu </p><p>Park Jisung; Ice Fae</p><p>-Dance major; Elemental Spells minor <br/>-Actually in the sophomore level of his minor (faes have more control over their powers then wizards, merpeople, etc. Jisung would've been in the same level as Renjun and Donghyuck if he had better control earlier in his life) <br/>-Takes advantage of his snowy pale hair and dyes it often <br/>-Works at a boba shop, but hasn't told anyone yet <br/>-Hangs out with Chenle regularly after school in the latter's dorm when he was in high school </p><p> </p><p>School System: </p><p>Though they are in Korea, I am using the American school system for this story. If you have read my BTS fic on Quotev where they were in elementary school (shameless self promo lmao), you would know that certain grades have certain ages. However, for university ages and grade can vary due to gap years, transfers, and higher education such as a PhD or a Masters degree. To keep it simple, I am using the standard university... uh.. grading and ages (is that what's it's called?). Here's a little table for reference just in case you don't know the American school system: </p><p>Freshmen: 19-20 yrs (Jisung) </p><p>Sophomore: 20-21 yrs (Chenle) </p><p>Junior: 21-22 yrs (00 line) </p><p>Senior: 22-23 yrs (Mark) </p><p>Districts:</p><p>-If for some reason, SM decides to mess with my plot and add in a new sub unit during this story (istg SM) then I'll make that unit into a district in construction (if you didn't notice the four districts are based off of each unit). So if NCT Q debuts, don't expect District Q to just pop out of nowhere. It'll merely be under "construction."<br/>-District U is scawy :(</p><p>Once again thank you for reading! ^^ </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for sticking by this far! ^^</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. 1. What the Heck is Na Jaemin!?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Something's up with Jaemin, and Renjun is going to find out no matter how hard it will be.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>YAY YOU'RE BACK!! </p><p>I will like to thank you guys so much for sticking around after the POV chapters ^^ I understand that some people just want to read an actual plot rather then just an outline, so I thank you so much for making it this far!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>10:49pm</i>
</p><p>"Shoot I should get back to the dorm" Renjun says to himself. He packs his things into his backpack, locks up the library, and quickly runs out of its doors. </p><p>Neo University at night is peaceful. It's usual bustling campus is now empty and quiet. Crickets filled the air with their beautiful songs, and the street lamps dot the pathways illuminating the way back to the dorms. </p><p>As he's walking, Renjun thinks about yesterday's incident. Sure the night is pretty and all, but all Renjun can think about right now was what happened last night. </p><p>"Why was he hiding it from me?" </p><p>Renjun gets closer to the dorm buildings. </p><p>"Do the others know?" </p><p>He opens the doors to the lobby and walks to the mail boxes to see if there were any bills that are needed to be paid or any letters/packages that need to come home with him. </p><p>"Does this connect with his nightly disappearances?"  </p><p>Renjun presses the elevator button and walks in. </p><p>"How did he know where I was?" </p><p>He presses the button needed to go back up to his comfy dorm.  </p><p>"That was also way off schedule, did he change it cause I knew what time he's gone?" </p><p>Renjun gets off and walks to his room, keys in his hand. </p><p>"Why does it matter if I know? Why did he change it?" </p><p>He opens the door and takes off his shoes. Upon walking in, Renjun hears clattering and clunking in the kitchen. Jaemin must be cooking something, which is strange. He shouldn't be home at this hour. </p><p>Renjun goes into the kitchen. Jaemin was quietly chopping onions then throwing them into a pot of what Renjun guesses is kimchee stew. "You're home late." the taller says in a monotone voice. He turns to Renjun. His face holds the same unreadable expression Renjun had seen at the bus station at District Dream. Emotionless, stoic, barely any light in his eyes. Renjun gulps. "What did I do?" he thinks. "He's the one who should be explaining not me!" Jaemin's eyes goes from his face to his bag. He turns back around. "Go put your stuff away and wash your hands. Dinner should be ready at any moment." </p><p>.</p><p>
  <i>Last Night</i>
</p><p>It's been half a year since Jaemin gave Renjun that weird warning about curiosity. Months go by and everything went back to normal. Jisung graduated high school, Mark began his last year of university. Renjun, Donghyuck, Jeno, and Jaemin began their junior year and Chenle began his sophomore year.</p><p>A semester and a whole ass winter break goes by, and everyone is back at school. </p><p>A month into the new year, Renjun is out at a convenience store, grabbing a few snacks and drinks to bring back to the dorm. "God, I really need to get a job somewhere" he whispers to himself in Chinese as he's walking back to campus. "Maybe there's a place in District V I can work at. No, that'll be too far. Maybe I can teach Chinese somewhere in the city?" Renjun was so immersed in his thoughts, he didn't notice a couple of figures creeping up behind him. </p><p>This is Renjun's third year living in Neo City. He knows he shouldn't be walking around the city at night as a human, but he can't help it. Sometimes he's craving some milk tea in a bottle or a snack. Plus, no one has ambushed him before. You would think by the amount of times Renjun has walked around the city by himself, he would've gotten attacked like 2 or 3 times. </p><p>Nope, never happened. Well until this very moment. </p><p>"Ah!" Renjun trips over someone's foot, loosing his balance. "Sorry about that!" he says, grabbing the plastic bags he dropped onto the ground. He gets up to see who he tripped over.</p><p>Vampires. Specifically 5 of them. All adults, all very scary looking. </p><p>Well crap. </p><p>"Awe, look how scared he looks guys! I guess this goes to show humans shouldn't be living in Neo City huh?" one of the men laughs, creeping awfully close to Renjun. The latter gulps and looks for any trees or plants nearby he can use to defend himself. He spots a tree behind one of the men. Bingo. "Come little one, come with us. You'll be safe from all of the scary people lurking on the streets" the guy says, raising his hands to grab Renjun. "Haha, no thanks I'm good" he squeaks back and manipulates a branch from the tree to wack one of the vampires. </p><p>It didn't really do much, but it made a gigantic THWACK sound on his head. That distracted the vampires, giving Renjun enough time to RUN. </p><p>"GET HIM" Renjun hears. As fast as he can, Renjun sprints back to campus. Shouldn't be that far, only a couple of blocks. </p><p>A vampire appears in front of Renjun. </p><p>"AH!" He looks around his surroundings. No plants, no trees.</p><p>"You're coming with us boy!" the vampire says. Before he can reach him though, Renjun makes a force field around himself and practically runs the vampire over by running in the ball. </p><p>"HOW CAN A HUMAN HAVE POWERS?" the first vampire shouts. </p><p>"I DON'T KNOW, I'VE BEEN ASKING THAT FOR THE PAST 9 YEARS" Renjun shouts back, running from the vampires. One of them uses his super speed and clings onto Renjun's force field making it pop. </p><p>"WHAT THE FUCK?" Renjun screams as he is grabbed by two vampires. Each one holding one arm. "What a naughty mouth you have young boy. I guess we have to punish you from cursing and running away from us hm?" the first vampire says. He smiles revealing two sharp fangs. There was no one in the streets. No witness. No plants or trees. Renjun is dead meat, literally. </p><p>The two vampires hold onto him tight as the other one comes closer to suck the life out of Renjun. He tries to create another force field, but can't. "Ok calm down, breathe you're not gonna die. You hear me Huang Renjun. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DIE" he thinks to himself. The vampire's face inches closer when he gets tackled by a wolf. Renjun jolts. He realizes that the two vampires that are holding him are distracted. This time, the force field works, successfully throwing the two men into the streets. </p><p>In his hamster ball, Renjun looks for the wolf that tackled the vampire. He spots him, wrestling the vampire he tackled on the floor. </p><p>"GET OFF OF ME YOU MUTT!!" the vampire yells out and throws the wolf off of him to the other side of the streets. Renjun runs to the wolf and breaks his force field. "Hey are you ok?" Renjun says, helping it up. The wolf, having no visible scratches or bruises, gets up. He looks at Renjun, then a vampire creeping up at them. He growls and goes in front of Renjun to shield him. </p><p>"Donghoon, get the kid and the mutt. We can eat like kings if we get both!" the first vampire says, walking with the rest of his entourage to Renjun and the wolf. The wolf, barks at the vampire near them but makes no affect. When the vampire tries to jump on them, Renjun creates a force field around them, making the vampire bounce off. "You can't hide in there forever kid! Get out of that fucking hamster ball!" </p><p>"Oh so you can swear and I can't? *scoff* boomers" he says back. The wolf, slowly turns his head towards Renjun as if saying "what the heck are you doing??" </p><p>"Excuse me?? I'll have you know I am a MILLENNIAL and YOU are the RUDEST GEN Z kid I have EVER met!" The first vampire says back, obviously offended.</p><p>"Really? You seem more like a boomer to me dude" he says, obviously enjoying the reaction of the first vampire. The wolf, after glaring at Renjun for being an idiot, notices a chance to attack. He nudges Renjun to drop the field and he does. The wolf ambushes the first vampire and tackles him. Renjun wacks one of the vampires using one of the plastic bags in his hands. There was no other item to use his telekinesis on so he tries to move one of the vampires at each other. </p><p>It... worked</p><p>"Woah! How did I do that?" Renjun shouts. The wolf throws the first vampire onto the pile Renjun made and tackles that last one. He barks at Renjun. Somehow Renjun was able to understand and creates a force field around the pile of vamps on the ground. "JAEMIN DID YOU SEE THAT I CREATED A FORCE FIELD AROUND THAT PILE AND THREW A VAMP WITH MY MIND!!" </p><p>Jaemin?  </p><p>Renjun turns around and faces the wolf. The wolf looks equally as surprised as he was.</p><p>As if he was caught.</p><p>Renjun coughs and grabs a bag he dropped on the ground. "Let's.. just take these guys to the police station" he says. </p><p>.</p><p>After dropping the vamps at the police station (the detective was very impressed that a human and a small wolf was able to do all of that to 5 fully grown vampires), the wolf was following Renjun back to the dorm. "I know you're behind me" he says, and turns around. He stops, the wolf stops. "Where's your home?" Renjun asks. Instead of answering, the wolf walks around Renjun and strolls ahead. "Wow rude!" Renjun shouts. The wolf stops and looks back at him. He nods his head towards the campus as if saying "come on let's go!" Renjun tilts his head. The wolf rolls his eyes ("wolves can do that?" Renjun thinks) and keeps going. "Wait up!" Renjun shouts, running to catch up with the rude wolf. </p><p>"Are you Jeno?" he asks. </p><p>The wolf says nothing. </p><p>"Wait Jeno would be sleeping by now. Who are you?" </p><p>The wolf only looks front.</p><p>"Are you Johnny hyung? Actually, Johnny hyung would be bigger then you in his wolf form." </p><p>The wolf quietly trots next to Renjun, not giving a bark or a look.</p><p>Renjun stays a silent for a moment. </p><p>"Then... are you really Jaemin?" </p><p>The wolf stops. Renjun stops with him. The eyes of the wolf widen, but quickly go back to normal. He continues walking ahead. "Wait! Are you actually though?" Renjun says, running again to catch up with him.</p><p>They don't say anything else on the way to the dorm. Renjun opens the door of the lobby letting the wolf in. He checks his mailbox,  then walks to press the up button of the elevator, the wolf right behind him. The door opens and both of them get on. "There is no way he's Jaemin" Renjun thinks, looking at the wolf who refuses to make eye contact. "Jaemin's a vampire! He can't turn into a wolf!" The door opens and the wolf walks out first. Renjun follows keeping a particular eye on him. The wolf stops and sits right in front of Renjun's dorm room door. "You wanna come inside?" Renjun asks, not sure if he's willing to let a strange wolf into his dorm. The wolf says nothing, only patting his tail up and down as if he is becoming impatient. The human sighs, and brings out his keys. He takes a look at the wolf another time and bites his lip. </p><p>"What the heck am I doing?" he says out loud to himself in Chinese. He puts the keys in and unlocks the door. Suddenly, the wolf starts changing into his human self. Jaemin appears and walks through the door, slamming it in front of Renjun's face. </p><p>"..." </p><p>"WHAT THE FU-"</p><p>.</p><p>
  <i>Present Time</i>
</p><p>"So why are you late today." Renjun looks up from his stew. "Is this guy really interrogating me right now" he thinks. </p><p>"Huang Renjun" </p><p>"Na Jaemin" </p><p>Jaemin makes tsk sound and grabs some radish and dips it into a red sauce. He throws it into his mouth and chews. "Don't talk with your mouth full" Renjun says, enjoying the annoyed expression on Jaemin's face. After eating his own piece of radish and swallowing it, he proceeds to pelt Jaemin with a bunch of questions. </p><p>"Where were you last night?" </p><p>Jaemin doesn't answer. </p><p>"Does Jeno know about this?" </p><p>Jaemin still doesn't answer. </p><p>"How the heck are you able to turn into a wolf as a vamp??" </p><p>Jaemin scoops rice into his mouth. He shrugs and points to his mouth, mocking Renjun on what he said earlier. Renjun, now the annoyed one, scrunches his nose and throws his chopsticks onto the table. "Fine, I'm late today cause I wanted to study in the library happy?" </p><p>Jaemin finishes chewing and swallows. "The library doesn't open this late Renjun" </p><p>"I work there" </p><p>"Since when" </p><p>"Since this morning" </p><p>Jaemin presses his lips into a thin line then goes to put his spoon into his stew. "They wouldn't let you stay in the library that late as a newbie" he says slurping the soup into his mouth. "You think I'm lying??" Renjun practically shouts. Jaemin drops his spoon into his soup and puts two hands up. "Woah, I'm just saying. What you're saying is pretty fishy" The shorter rolls his eyes. "I'm fishy? Says the guy who disappears at like 3 every day without a word and shows up in front of me as a wolf when he's a VAMPIRE!" Renjun snaps back. Jaemin puts his hands down and sighs. "You really want to know the truth?" Renjun nods. </p><p>"Then stop coming back home at like 12, it's not safe." </p><p>.</p><p>The next day, Renjun decides to take matters into his own hands. </p><p>"Professor Qian, I have a question" Renjun asks after a lecture. "Sure! What is it Renjun?" Professor Qian asks looking at his computer to prepare for his next class. </p><p>"So uh.. is there a uh possibility that a person of one species can possess abilities from another?" Professor Qian looks up from his computer confused. "Can you give me a example?" he asks. Renjun sighs. "Like for example, let's say a.. vampire turns into a wolf. Is that possible?" Professor Qian, getting what Renjun is asking, nods. "Yes, if the vampire is a were vampire hybrid." </p><p>A hybrid! How did Renjun not think of that? </p><p>"Are there a lot of hybrids in Neo City?" he asks. Professor Qian takes another moment to think. "Not really, there are some fae and fairy hybrids out there but since they're so similar no one really counts them as a hybrid. As for a werevampire hybrid, they only appear in like dramas or movies, but never in real life. I guess it's because the tension between the two species is just too strong, making a were vampire hybrid is more like a fantasy then reality. </p><p>Renjun nods. "Is there a reason why you asked me this?" Professor Qian asks. Renjun shakes his head. "No, just got curious heh. See you Prof.!" he says walking out of the door. Professor Qian chuckles and yells bye back. </p><p>.</p><p>"Why are you looking up when the full moon is?" Donghyuck asks, peering at Renjun's phone. Renjun looks up and meets with Jaemin's eyes staring a hole into his face. "I uh.. you know, so when we know Jeno's available lol." he answers back. The juniors were having lunch at a casual sit in restaurant off campus. It was a sandwich hang out type of deal, so they were peacefully munching on their sandwiches and eating their fries (Jaemin of course is drinking his all time favorite cherry juice). "Since when were you so interested in my schedule?" Jeno asks. Renjun shrugs. "What I can't know as a friend?" he says dramatically, eyeing Jaemin when he said the word "know" Jeno and Donghyuck, while finding it a bit odd, scoff and go back to their sandwiches. "Speaking of the full moon, isn't there a greater chance of turning into a wolf this time?" Donghyuck asks. </p><p>Jaemin stops sipping his juice. </p><p>"Yeahh, that's why Chef Nakamoto is closing the restaurant that day. We can work as dogs sure, but as wolves we're gonna have a harder time drawing costumers in." Jeno says, chomping into his sandwich. "A greater chance to turn into a wolf huh?" Renjun thinks, glancing over to Jaemin. He's immersed in his phone, texting someone about something. "Well I gotta make sure to keep Jaemin in the dorm that night" the human tells himself.</p><p>.</p><p>A week pasts, and the day of the full moon arrives. By then you would think Renjun would have a plan. </p><p>He doesn't, he's got nothing. </p><p>It's cause Jaemin is equally as stubborn as Renjun is. From the day at the sandwich restaurant to present day, Jaemin was avoiding Renjun. He woke up earlier to avoid meeting Renjun in the kitchen. When Renjun tried to wake up earlier then him, Jaemin somehow wasn't in the dorms. "How the heck can he wake up earlier then 5pm? He's a night person who relies on caffeine as his life support!" Renjun groans. </p><p>Renjun's next plan was to meet with Jaemin after his classes. The problem was that Jaemin's classes were at the other side of the campus so by the time Renjun got there Jaemin had already left. Renjun tried to leave HIS class early, but got scolded by Professor Qian for doing so. </p><p>Then Renjun tried to stalk Jaemin, but of course that didn't work.</p><p>"Let go of me!" Renjun shouts as Jaemin carries him like a potato sack to his room. "Stop following me around you weirdo" he says back, throwing Renjun onto his bed like a rag doll. "OW THAT HURT!" Renjun yells out. Jaemin, who could care less about Renjun's back, walks out and slams the door. Immediately, Renjun gets up and runs to the door. Quietly, he opens it a crack. Jaemin was standing right in front of the door, arms crossed and looking pissed. "Ok, ok I won't follow you geez you're scary" Renjun squeaks out, slowly closing the door. </p><p>Don't even get Renjun started on Jaemin's weird schedule. The boy is seemingly changing it every day. </p><p>"HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?" Renjun shouts into the phone in Chinese. "IT'S LIKE HE KNOWS MY EVERY MOVE BEFORE I CAN EVEN COME UP WITH THEM!" Sicheng sighs into the phone. "Well, have you ever taken into consideration that the dude is just a private person?" </p><p>"Gege, I saw him change into a person from a werewolf." </p><p>"Then there! You got your proof!" </p><p>Renjun is about to cry. "No I don't! It happened so fast, and he doesn't want to admit it! I need to catch him red handed. I need to catch him so he won't deny it again" he says playing with his moomin doll. "How are you so sure he'll stop? By what I hear he's as stubborn as you are" Sicheng scoffs back. "Simple, I'll just film him." </p><p>"Renjun no-" </p><p>Someone knocks on the door. "Gege I gotta go, give mama, baba, and Gougou lots of love for me!" The brothers exchange their good byes and hang up the phone. Renjun gets up from his bed and opens his door. "Yo whats u-" Jaemin takes Renjun's wrist and pushes him back onto his bed. "What are you- AHH" The taller, pushes Renjun down and proceeds to TIGHTLY roll Renjun into a blanket burrito. "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING NA JAEMIN" Renjun shouts trying to shimmy out of the burrito. Jaemin doesn't say anything and quickly rushes out of the door and locks it. "HEY GET BACK HERE!" Renjun says, rolling out of the burrito. He runs to his door and tries to open it. It's locked from the inside. </p><p>"NA JAEMIN! OPEN THIS DOOR!!" Renjun shouts, trying to jiggle the door open. He looks out his window. The sun is started to set, the full moon is going to come up at any minute. Renjun jiggles the door even harder, but of course why would that work. "Potions, potions, potions" Renjun whispers under his breath. He needs to find something to open the door fast. Granted, Jaemin wouldn't turn right as the sun sets, but he can turn anytime. Renjun vigorously looks through his potion journals to see if there is anything ANYTHING that can be used to open that door. "Melting spell? No, I don't want to touch melted metal. Strength spell? I'm going to break my door! Battery acid is one of the- oh wait why are my chemistry notes in here?" </p><p>Then suddenly, Renjun realizes something. </p><p>"Wait a minute, I know how to pick a lock!" </p><p>Yes, he knows how to pick a lock. </p><p>He and Sicheng may have shared a room growing up, but there were many times when Sicheng had locked Renjun out of their room out of anger. Oh, the look on Sicheng's face when Renjun managed to get the door open with one of his mom's bobby pins was priceless.</p><p>Renjun grabs a paper clip from his desk and gets to work. Once he hears the lock click, he opens the door quietly, fearing Jaemin is somewhere by. He gets out and goes to the living room. Jaemin wasn't there. He goes into the bathroom. Ain't there either. Renjun then goes to unknown territory; Jaemin's room. </p><p>When you think about it, it's kind of unfair. Jaemin has barged into Renjun's room plenty of times, but when it comes to Renjun going into his room, it's suddenly illegal. </p><p>That will all change today. </p><p>Renjun kneels on the floor to quietly, but quickly get the lock open knowing Jaemin locked his door. The lock clicks. Renjun immediately stands up and opens the door. Jaemin, who was in deep ponder, jumps from his bed. "Did you just pick my lock?" he asks surprised. Renjun walks in and closes the door behind him. "In the matter of fact I did! Now-" Renjun walks closer to Jaemin backing him up towards the wall. "You have been very suspicious Na Jaemin. We both know that I will not rest until I get my answers." Jaemin presses his back against the wall, Renjun inches away from him. "So tell me now, or so help me Na Jaemin-" </p><p> </p><p>"What the heck are you??"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Just a little note~~</p><p>The Neo University dorms are more like 2 room apartments rather then college dorms. Don't ask me why, that's what I for some reason imagined their dorms to be like</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. 2. That Weird Doctor</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Renjun meets Dr. Kim</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HELLOWW! Thank you for coming back to read my story! &lt;3 </p><p>I would like to note something about one of my works. </p><p>I had posted a Black Lives Matter work filled with a list of petitions, funds, and other sources to support the movement. However, last week the work had been reported as a non fan work so I was forced to take it down. </p><p>I was thinking of making a doc filled with the original links but I decided not to. I am not a African American, and I believe that for this movement, we should be raising the voices of African Americans higher and we should be listening to them the most. So instead I will be providing a link to the Color of Change website, a nonprofit led by people of color for civil rights. On this website are petitions and other sources that you can use to help the movement. </p><p>Please do take at least a look at the website and share to your peers! </p><p>Thank you! </p><p>Website: https://colorofchange.org/</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"RENJUN!!" </p><p>Renjun turns around. Donghyuck was standing in the doorway panting, looking disheveled. "I need your help.. Jeno's cat is stuck in the cupboards again and she's refusing to get out" he says. "What are you doing in Jaemin's room?" </p><p>Jaemin's room? Jaemin! </p><p>Renjun turns around to where he cornered Jaemin. The latter was no longer there. The window was open and the cool early evening breeze blows into the room. </p><p>He almost had him. </p><p>"I-, I was just looking for something. Let's go." </p><p>.</p><p>"Donghyuck? What makes you think I can get her out of there?" </p><p>Whenever he gets the chance, Donghyuck always teases Renjun for his short stature. It makes sense for Renjun to question Donghyuck for asking HIM to take Geran out of one of the highest cabinets of his kitchen. </p><p>"Jeno has barricaded himself in his room because of the full moon, Jaemin is barely around at this time, and Geran hates me. You are THE only one who can get her out of there" Donghyuck says. </p><p>Renjun looks back up at Geran. The cat was snuggled into a ball against the wall. Renjun couldn't see anything but a giant black ball of fuzz. </p><p>"Are you sure that's Geran and not one of those black things from Totoro?" </p><p>Donghyuck rolls his eyes and walks out of the kitchen. "Hey where are you going?" He comes back with a stepping stool and sets it up right in front of Geran's cabinet. "There, now stop using your height for an excuse and get her out of there." Donghyuck says harshly. Renjun puts both of his hands up and begins to step on the stool. "Geez, what's gotten you into a bad mood?" </p><p>"It's nothing" </p><p>"It's something Hyuck, don't lie to me" Renjun says. "Geraann" Renjun tries to step a little closer. He hears little snores coming from the cat. "Hyuck, I can't get her out, she's sleeping" Donghyuck sighs heavily and walks out of the kitchen. Renjun, concerned about his friend, quickly steps down and folds the stool. "Dude really what's going on" he asks putting away the stool. </p><p>"It's Mark hyung" </p><p>Ah. </p><p>Renjun gently takes Donghyuck's hand and guides him to the couch. "Rant to me sis." </p><p>Donghyuck lays his head on Renjun's shoulder and closes his eyes. "We got paired up for this dumb group exercise for theater, and ended up fighting throughout the whole activity. I don't think Ten hyung got the idea that we're in a bad place right now cause he paired us up AGAIN in ANOTHER exercise which ended with me walking out of the auditorium." </p><p>"Mark hyung's in theater?" Renjun asks. Donghyuck responds by nodding against Renjun's shoulder. "Yeah, we had no tech guy this year so Ten hyung just forced him to join." he sighs. Donghyuck raises his head and lays it down on a pillow. "This year started so badd" Donghyuck cries out. Renjun hums, quietly putting Donghyuck's legs on his lap to make the latter more comfortable. </p><p>Donghyuck and Mark had a fight at the beginning of summer. It lasted throughout the whole break. </p><p>Renjun doesn't really know the details, but apparently Donghyuck wanted to go somewhere with Mark for the summer. Mark had refused and they ended up fighting. They didn't break up, but it seems like they are about to which worries Renjun a lot. </p><p>"Can you tell me what you guys really fought about over the summer? I don't think you guys would be this mad at each other over a vacation."</p><p>Donghyuck stays silent for a moment. All that was heard in the room was the air conditioner running to keep the room at a suitable temperature. </p><p>"It was a mixture of the vacation and... his dream to become a doctor." </p><p> Renjun gets how serious it is now. </p><p>"I wasn't trying to get him further away from his dream. It was just.." Donghyuck sighs. Renjun gives him another pillow to hug. "He's been working so much harder recently. He was barely getting any sleep, barely any time to himself. You noticed this right? He was barely talking to us. I started to get worried and asked if he wanted to take a break, but he said no. Saying something like "it's my last year" and "I have to make this year count."'</p><p>Renjun nods</p><p>"'Just one break" I said. Maybe like a short trip to Jeju or even a little shopping trip to Incheon. Then he started getting mad, I started getting mad, then we yelled at each other, and we ended up where we are now." Donghyuck gets up and faces Renjun. "What do you think Jun?" </p><p>Renjun thinks. "Well of course, I have to hear both sides of the story before saying anything, but I know you didn't mean any harm. This was just a big misunderstanding that needs to get cleared up." Donghyuck nods and hugs Renjun. "Thanks" he whispers. "I didn't do anything" Renjun whispers back. "You did, you listened. That's why I love you Renjun" Donghyuck says. Renjun scoffs, but hugs Donghyuck back. They stay like that for a couple of seconds before Donghyuck's phone starts to ring. </p><p>"Hello?" Donghyuck answers. </p><p>"Hyung! Mark hyung's in the hospital!" </p><p>.</p><p>It's almost comical. Almost </p><p>Somehow during his internship, Mark had to deal with some kids from the children's ward. Apparently, they all turned because of the full moon and went rouge into the cardiovascular ward. </p><p>"Guys, I'm ok it's only a cut." </p><p>"Hyung that cut is like a inch deep." </p><p>When Renjun and Donghyuck got to the ER, they saw Mark covered in scratches, bruises, and two broken fingers. The comical part of this, is that all of that came from a couple of 4 year olds. </p><p>"I'm fine seriously, a few stitches and a x-ray and I'll be fine" he says. </p><p>Renjun looks at Donghyuck. The other doesn't say anything and leaves the room. Renjun follows him out. "Let's go to the vending machine" Donghyuck says, not looking at the other. Renjun doesn't say anything at just follows. </p><p>When they get to the end of the hall, Donghyuck shoves a couple of coins in and aggressively presses a button. "If he was so "a-ok" then why the heck does he need a room? I swear to god he is so dumb" The machine doesn't let go of his drink. Donghyuck proceed to shake the machine with so much force, he accidentally unplugs it. "Here, just sit down I'll take care of it." Renjun says. He plugs it back in and opens the flap of the machine. The drink was thankfully low enough, so Renjun grabs it. He puts in his own coins and gets his drink with no problem. Donghyuck tsks. "Wow, even the machine hates me." </p><p>"The machine doesn't hate you." Renjun says, handing Donghyuck his drink. They sit in silence, occasionally taking sips from their drinks. Nurses and doctors pay no attention to them and scuffle by. The beeps of the hospital machines and the chatter of people take up the space of the room. "Why DID he need a whole room?" Renjun asks. If Mark's only serious injury were his fingers (he should be able to heal them pretty quickly), then he shouldn't need a bed and room. "I don't knoww" Donghyuck groans putting down his drink. "Talk to him" </p><p>"No"</p><p>"Donghyuck" </p><p>"He won't talk to me" he says. Renjun sits still for a while then gets up. "Then I'll go talk to him. Do you want me to send Jisung or Chenle over?" Donghyuck nods. "Ok, I'll try send only one of them." Donghyuck chuckles and looks up. "Thank you" Renjun nods and walks back to Mark's room. </p><p>.</p><p>"No, just stay there don't go anywhere" Renjun hears. He looks to see who's talking. A tall and slender doctor was facing the corner, resting his shoulder on the wall. "The mission can wait Jaemin" Jaemin? A announcement is overheard in the hospital through the PA system. "I have to go" the doctor says and hangs up his phone. Renjun watches the black haired doctor run off. </p><p>Who was that guy? </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun opens the door to Mark's room. He feels the stares of Chenle, Jisung, and Mark on him. "If you're wondering, he's calling you an idiot." Mark gives out a short laugh and looks out of the window. "Jisung go help him, he's at the vending machine." Jisung nods and runs out. "What were you guys talking about?" Renjun asks Chenle. "What else would we talk about gege?" the younger says back. Renjun looks at Mark, who was still avoiding eye contact. "Hyung, he's had a bad day today. Granted he wasn't the one that was beaten up by a bunch of preschoolers, but you know." Mark stops looking at the window and faces Renjun. "I uh.. just got told I need to spend the night here." Renjun tilts his head. Mark is looking much better. He should be fully healed in the next 20 minutes or so. "Why? You look perfectly fine" Mark rubs his neck. "The doctor I was shadowing told me my stress levels were way too high. He's forcing me to stay here for the night." </p><p>Mark plays with his fingers. "Can.. you ask Hyuck to come in here? I.. really need to talk to him." Renjun smiles, he looks at Chenle who is already out the door. </p><p>"I really miss him Renjun." </p><p>"I know, and he misses you too" Renjun replies. Jisung, Chenle, and Donghyuck walk into the room. Mark looks up and makes eye contact with Donghyuck. "We'll leave it to you two now." Renjun says, pushing the younger ones out of the room. He closes the door and puts his arms over their shoulders. "You guys hungry? Let's go to the cafe!" </p><p>.</p><p>They didn't know where the cafeteria was. They got lost. </p><p>"Why is this hospital so big??" Renjun says. "I know, like does it kill them to place the cafeteria close the lobby or something??" Jisung says, equally disheveled. </p><p>"Guys, a map!" Chenle says pointing to a map on the wall. Renjun and Jisung run up to join him. "Yeah no, this isn't helping AT ALL." Jisung says. </p><p>Neo City only has one hospital, so the builders of it tried to create it as big as possible to accommodate the city. 30 floors, 9 million rooms, 20 wards, 2 million operating rooms, 5 cafes, and one large cafeteria. While its helpful for the city, it's not helpful for three hungry university students who are looking for a place to eat. </p><p>"Are you boys lost?" Renjun turns around. It's the same doctor from earlier. He's wearing what a doctor is supposed to wear: a doctor's coat with a white button up and a black tie. He was wearing round spectacles and had his jet black hair parted. "Where's the cafeteria?" Chenle asks. The doctor smiles. "Yeah I know it's hard to find. Here, follow me!" Chenle and Jisung jump excitedly and immediately follow him. Renjun reluctantly follows. He doesn't want to trust the doctor just yet. </p><p>.</p><p>"You're Mark hyung's mentor?" Chenle asks. The doctor, whose name is Dr. Kim, nods. "Yeah, I noticed you guys were in his room earlier. Are you guys friends with him?" </p><p>"Yup! We go to the same university as him!" Chenle responds back. </p><p>Thanks to Dr. Kim, the three were able to find the cafeteria. At the moment, they are enjoying their sandwiches (they're university students, that was all they could afford) while talking with Dr. Kim, who's on break. "What species are you guys?" Dr. Kim asks. "Well I'm a leprechaun, Jisung is a ice fae, and Renjun ge is a human with powers!" Dr. Kim turns to Renjun. The latter quietly finishes his sandwich and crunches his trash into a ball. "Is anyone done? I'm gonna throw away my stuff" he says, avoiding eye contact with Dr. Kim. "I am hyung" Jisung says. He puts his trash into Renjun's hands. "Chenle?" Chenle smashes the last of his sandwich into his mouth and hands it over. He opens his mouth, but Renjun stops him. "Don't talk with your mouth full." he says, cringing. Dr. Kim laughs at the kids in front of him. "Oh you guys are so cute! No wonder you're Mark's friends, all of you are very funny!" Renjun gives a polite smile (the fake one you would give to be nice) and walks over to the trash can. "Is he the one who's pulling Jaemin out at weird times?" he thinks to himself. He looks back. Dr. Kim and Chenle were laughing at something. Jisung was quietly smiling, enjoying his time. Renjun walks back. "Oh, great timing my break's done. Let's take you guys back up to Mark's room." </p><p>.</p><p>When they came back to the room, Donghyuck and Mark were fast asleep. Mark is hugging Donghyuck. The latter was hugging him back. "Yayy, they got back together!!" Chenle whispers. Renjun smiles. He covers them with a blanket and pushes the younger ones out of the room. Before closing the door, he turns off of the lights, taking one last glance at his friends. "Let's go back to the dorms." Renjun says. The younger ones nod their heads and start walking to the elevators. "Please don't walk by yourself Renjun" Renjun freezes. He turns to Dr. Kim who was looking at some papers at a counter. "Remember that you're still human. Even if you were able to defend yourself last time, you may not be able to do the same in the future." </p><p>He doesn't really react, or move. Renjun only nods and says "I will, thank you." He quickly goes to catch up with Chenle and Jisung. "You're here! I thought I had to hold this elevator longer!" Jisung says. Renjun runs into the box, and presses the lobby button. "What happened? Why do you look so shell shocked?" Jisung asks. Renjun shakes his head and smiles at him. "Thought I forgot something." </p><p>.</p><p>Jaemin didn't come back for the rest of the night. Renjun decided to go into his room to investigate. </p><p>It's invasion of privacy, but can you really blame the guy? He was finally about to get the answer he has longed to get for the past 2 and half years before it got swept away through an open window. Renjun deserved to know something. </p><p>He quietly opens the door to Jaemin's room in fear that the other got in via window (Jaemin is very unpredictable). </p><p>He turns on the lights of the room. No one was there. Perfect. Renjun quietly closes the door. He goes to the window, shuts it, and closes the curtains. He didn't want Jaemin to know he was in there.</p><p>Renjun takes a quick scan. The room was very clean as expected of the emotionless vampire. His bed was made, his desk cleared of any papers or books. Jaemin's bookshelf stands tall with a million of books and nick knacks. Renjun notices a little bear holding a strawberry. "Huh, thought he had a eternal hate for strawberries" he says to himself in Chinese. He takes a look at the books Jaemin had. Most of them were textbooks for his classes. Photography 300, Cameras and Film, Fighting 400. He goes lower to the next shelf. Anatomy of the Body; Neo City's Official Biology Textbook, Chemistry 300, Physics 100. "Why does he have a separate shelf for science books?" he asks himself. </p><p>(They didn't mean anything, Jaemin's just weird when it comes to organizing.) </p><p>The next shelf was where Renjun met his match. </p><p>The shelf was filled with storybooks. Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Little Prince, Grimm's Fairytales, books you would find in a fantasy section of a library. Then, there was the one book that caught Renjun's eyes. </p><p>The Psychology of Elemental Spirits</p><p>"Spirits have minds?" Renjun thinks. This was a very strange title. A elemental spirit is like air or water. It's just there, it doesn't think, nor behave like a regular being would. </p><p>As his hands get closer to the book, Renjun hears a faint growl coming from underneath the bed. He freezes. "J-Jaemin?" The growl is gets more clear. Renjun looks under the bed and meets with a wolf with his teeth bared, eyes yellow. "AHH" Renjun screams. He jumps back, away from the bed. The wolf emerges from underneath the bed and gets slowly walks closer to Renjun. "Jaemin?" he says, but the wolf only growls. Renjun puts his hands in front of him. "Woah, Jaemin it's me Renjun" </p><p>The wolf gets closer. </p><p>"A-are you mad that I went into your room without permission?" </p><p>The wolf doesn't answer, backing Renjun to the wall. </p><p>"I'm really sorry! It's just you know you're so secretive!" </p><p>He gets closer to the wall. </p><p>"I don't get it. We're roommates. We don't know ANYTHING about each other. No, I don't know anything about you!" </p><p>The wolf is a inch away from him. </p><p>"It's just not FAIR!" </p><p>The wolf stops. Renjun notices that he was breathing a lot faster. His eyes were closed and his heart was pumping at fast rate. </p><p> Renjun opens his eyes. The wolf is now sitting on the floor, looking... a little guilty. </p><p>"You know, you go into my room without my permission all the time. Why can't I go into yours?" Renjun asks. He gets up to leave, the wolf trailing right behind him. "Fine, I'll leave, but just so you know we have been living together for two and a half years. By now you would think we would be closer." he says. The wolf squeezes between Renjun and the door and whines. "What now?" he asks annoyed. The wolf pushes Renjun. "Hey! What are you doing?" The wolf doesn't say anything and pushes him closer to the bed. Renjun ultimately falls onto the mattress. "Oof!" The wolf copies Renjun's position and smiles. "Seriously what are you doing." The wolf stops smiling and climbs onto the bed. He nudges Renjun to join him. "You... want to sleep together?" The wolf nods and lays down. Renjun stays still, wondering whether or not he should join the small wolf. The wolf growls. "Ok, ok I'm going, I'm going" Renjun says. He climb onto the bed next the wolf. "Oh let me turn off the lights!" he says. Renjun turns them off. The wolf, is already asleep. Renjun puts a blanket over him and climbs in. He puts a hand on the wolf's body and slowly pets him. </p><p>"Night Jaemin" </p><p>That night, Renjun had a dream about a forest that looks familiar yet unrecognizable.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So I decided to add the Markhyuck summer fight in- </p><p> </p><p>I'm also going to assume that you already know who Dr. Kim is by the tags lololololol</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. 3. That's...a Large Cake</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Dreamies go head to head in a cook off with a sweet reward at the end :)))</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sup </p><p>Thank you for making this far! I really appreciate the people who stuck by to read! </p><p>Here's the new chapter! I hope you enjoy! ^^</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Renjun woke up the next morning, the wolf was gone. </p><p>"Where did he go?" he groans. Renjun unwraps himself from his blanket cocoon (he clearly remembers giving the blanket to the wolf), and gets up from the bed. "What time is it?" he asks himself. The clock tells him 9:46am through its delicate hands. "I should make the bed for him" he thinks, and proceeds to do so. After he's done tidying the room up a bit more (while trying not to glance at the weird spirit psychology book) he opens the door. He hears something frying in the kitchen. </p><p>As he approaches the living room, Jaemin's bright pink hair blinds Renjun from a distance. "Go brush your teeth Renjun!" Jaemin shouts without turning around. Renjun stays still for a second before turning to the bathroom to freshen up. </p><p>When he comes out, Jaemin had set the table up with eggs, rice, radish kimchee, and spam. </p><p>"Thanks Jaem" Renjun says, quietly. He takes a seat at the table and waits for Jaemin to come back with his "blood" sauce. </p><p>They start eating in silence once Jaemin sits down.</p><p>"I'm sorry" </p><p>Renjun looks up.</p><p>"Hm?" Renjun asks with a mouthful of rice in his mouth. Jaemin sighs and puts down his chopsticks. "I uh, didn't realize I was being THAT cold to you. This is just how I always act with the others." Renjun puts down his spoon.</p><p>"I can't.. tell you EVERYTHING, but I can tell you one thing. Please just know that, I have my secrets and you have yours too. I can't spill everything in one day." </p><p>Now Renjun feels guilty.</p><p>He doesn't say anything and just nods. Jaemin takes a deep breath, then let's it go. "Yes it is true, I am part werewolf and part vampire." </p><p>Strangely, Renjun doesn't feel surprised. That feeling of confirmation and success doesn't initially come to him. It almost makes him say "Yeah, I know." </p><p>But he didn't know, he never knew. </p><p>"Thank you Jaemin for sharing. Do any of the others know?" </p><p>Jaemin shakes his head. </p><p>"I see.. I'm really sorry.. about sneaking around and everything" Renjun says. "I should've respected your boundaries, and never have gotten curious in the first place." Jaemin smiles. "No it's ok, I know you're a investigative guy." Renjun smiles back. </p><p>"Since you said your secret, wanna hear mine? I think since this is a pretty big deal, being your whole identity and all I should at least tell you my secret." </p><p>Jaemin thinks then nods. Renjun takes a deep breath.</p><p>"I'm.." he starts.</p><p>"deathly afraid of fire." </p><p>.</p><p>The rest of the month went by as normal. Mark and Donghyuck went back to their weekly dates after Mark was discharged from the hospital. After that one interaction in the morning, Renjun and Jaemin got a bit closer through other morning conversations.</p><p>"You like meat? I thought you were a vegetarian" Renjun says one day.</p><p>"Well.. I kinda am?? Look sucking the blood out of a living being is terrifying to me."</p><p>"But, eating them is not?" </p><p>Renjun has fun talking to him every morning. It makes him sad when they have to leave for class or when they have different schedules. </p><p>"Look a wolf is a carnivorous animal, and when you're a carnivore you crave meat sometimes." </p><p>Talking with Jaemin also lets Renjun see different parts of Jaemin's personality. </p><p>"I crave meat sometimes too." </p><p>"Well you're a omnivore it happens" </p><p>Something that Renjun hasn't been able to see for the last 2 years. </p><p>.</p><p>One day, Donghyuck challenged his friends to a cooking competition. </p><p>Well, he only challenged Renjun, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jeno. Mark and Jisung can't cook for their lives. </p><p>"You guys will be the judges. I can't trust you in the kitchen. Especially Mark hyung." Donghyuck says. "Hey! I can cook!" </p><p>"Yeah what? A popped egg?" Chenle says. </p><p>"Hey that was one time!" </p><p>"*cough* 54 times" Renjun says. "You counted?" Mark asks. Renjun clicks his tongue and salutes him. "You bet your 38 burnt toasts I did!" </p><p>The table erupts with laughter. Other customers near them look at them as if they all grew a tail and three heads (which honestly can be taken care of by a quick trip to urgent care). "Oh my god you're scary!" Mark says, covering his face. "Awee don't be embarrassed babe, you'll get to eat some delicious food tonight!" The table stops laughing. "T-tonight?" Jeno asks. Donghyuck raises an brow. "Uh yeah? My challenge requests only last 24 hours, so if you guys wanna do this we gotta do this tonight! Also today's a Friday and I've got nothing to do so.." </p><p>"Your homework?" Mark asks. </p><p>"Nah got that done a while ago" Donghyuck smirks. "Darn you Lee and your big brain" Renjun says. Jisung shrugs and shoves a fry into his mouth. "I'm free"</p><p>"Me too!" Chenle says, stealing Jisung's next fry. "I'm getting off at like 7 today, is that ok with you guys?" Jeno asks. "Oh hell yeah! Late night chaotic cooking is my jam!" Donghyuck shouts. Johnny, who was working behind a counter near them shushes them. "God you guys are so loud!" </p><p>"Sorry Johnny hyung!" Renjun shouts back, once again scaring other customers. "If it's after 7 I should be free. I think I can finish my paper then" he says after giggling at Johnny's irked face. Mark bites into his sandwich and hums. "Let's work on our stuff together until then in the library. I've got some stuff I need to finish" he says, covering his mouth. After Mark says his status, they all turn to Jaemin. He didn't say much the whole time, just picking at his sandwich that was drenched in blood sauce. He feels the stares on him and looks up. "H-huh? Wait what are we doing?" Donghyuck groans. "Brooooo listennnn!! I have challenged you, Renjun, Jeno, and Chenle to a cook off at like 7:30 at my place today. Are you going to be free? We know you're a busy dude." </p><p>Jaemin stares at Donghyuck then Renjun. Renjun doesn't say anything, and just shrugs his shoulders. "I-I've gotta check first" he says quietly. "Dude you ok?" Mark asks. Jaemin nods. "Let me make a phone call real quick. Don't leave me here!" he says. Jaemin grabs his phone and quickly wavers through the busy restaurant to go outside.</p><p>"I really want to know what he does every night." Jeno says to Renjun. "Got any ideas?" Renjun, mid bite, looks at Jeno making the latter laugh. "I don't know, you're his bestie" he says after telling Jeno to stop laughing. "Well you're his roommate, you live with the guy!" Renjun chuckles and dips a fry into ketchup. "Trust me, I'm just as clueless as you are." </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun hasn't dropped the question that is: "Where does Jaemin go everyday at 6pm?" </p><p>It makes him feel icky. </p><p>He knows he isn't supposed to find out. He stopped snooping around, but still keeps little notes about Jaemin. </p><p>Just little ones. </p><p>Like what time he leaves and comes back home (6pm-10:30pm). The fact that Jaemin locks himself in his room for no apparent reason (which has been happening a lot recently). The thought hasn't been on Renjun's mind as much as before, but it's still there, lingering.</p><p>So when Jaemin comes back to the dorm suddenly so happy it confuses and scares the hell out of him. </p><p>"I can go! I can go!" Jaemin says, jumping up and down. "Woah ok pup, what happened? You were so down earlier." Renjun chuckles. Jaemin's smile falters a bit, but goes back up. "Did you just call me pup?" he asks, pointing a dramatic finger at the shorter. "Why I can't? It's my special nickname for you" Renjun says, putting his hands behind his back and smiling. Jaemin scoffs, but keeps smiling. "I'm going to call Hyuck real quick!" he says. Renjun nods, watching Jaemin run off to his room.</p><p>Another thought comes to his head. It's actually pretty sad how Jaemin is occupied every time. By the way he reacted, it seems like he always wanted to go hang out with his friends, but can't. It makes Renjun kind of heartbroken knowing that Jaemin can't do the things he really wants to do. </p><p>Kinda makes you think a bit huh?</p><p>.</p><p>Jaemin had nothing else to do for the rest of the afternoon, so he went to the library with Renjun to study.</p><p>Mark was kind of surprised to see Jaemin come into the library. "No classes?" he asks. "Yeah not today, my prof got sick so I have the rest of the 24 hours free." Mark's eyes widen. "Wait, so does that mean you can come and cook?" Jaemin nods, smiling brightly. "That's awesome dude! So glad we can finally hang out after 5!" Mark says. He high fives Jaemin, and gets shushed by the people around them. </p><p>It puts a smile on Renjun's face, seeing Jaemin interact with Mark like that. </p><p>Two hours into their study session, Donghyuck texts them. </p><p>"Meet at Osaka Ramen and Takoyaki!!!" </p><p>So they did once the time came. </p><p>The three of them rode in Mark's car to the restaurant and waited for Jeno to finish his shift. In the meanwhile, Donghyuck, Jisung, and Chenle had all piled up into Mark's SUV. </p><p>"Jaemin hyung! You're here!" Chenle exclaims. Jaemin responds by grabbing Chenle and Jisung and hugging them. "And you're in a good mood too! ACK ok, maybe a little too tight hyung!" Jisung says. Renjun and Donghyuck laugh. "Wow, a free Jaemin AND he's in a good mood? This is too good to be true!" Donghyuck chuckles. </p><p>A knock on the door to the SUV is heard. "That must be Jeno!" Renjun says. Mark unlocks the door, and incomes Jeno, who is in his Samoyed form. </p><p>Jeno goes to sit in the front row between Jaemin and Renjun. When he makes eye contact with Jaemin, he immediately licks his face. "Awee, he's happy to see his best friend here" Renjun gushes. "Yeah, yeah I'm glad to see you too bud!" Jaemin says laughing. Jeno turns into his human self (it's the law) and puts on his seat belt, giving a thumbs up to Mark once he's done. "Ok Hyuck! Where are we going?" </p><p>"SUPERMARKETTTT!!!" </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun is starting to think that everything in Neo City is three times bigger then anything else on this Earth. </p><p>Like, why the heck does a supermarket need 5 floors?? </p><p>"Oh my god that's huge" he says. Jeno laughs. "You say that every time we go somewhere." </p><p>"Well if you're a person that came from a place with grocery stores with only ONE floor, I think you'd say that too!" Renjun argues back. Jeno laughs again and ruffles Renjun's hair. The other glares at Jeno. He eyes Jaemin, who's busy looking out of the window. </p><p>He seems like he's looking for something. </p><p>"Jaemin?" Jaemin whips his head towards Renjun. "Yeah?" </p><p>"You.. ok?" </p><p>Jaemin smiles and nods. "Yup! Never been better!" </p><p>.</p><p>"Ok fellas" Donghyuck says after Mark parks. "We gotta split into teams!" Donghyuck taps his finger on his chin, looking at his friends like a child picking out a toy from a store. "Let's have... me, Jeno, and Chenle on one team and Renjun and Jaemin on the other!" </p><p>"Don't you think it's a little unfair to have one team with three people?" Jisung asks. Donghyuck shrugs. "Renjun's team has Jaemin, the guy can practically go on Chopped and maybe get second place." Jaemin lifts a brow. "Second place? I'll have you know I cook for children and they all say my cooking is delicious." </p><p>"They're children Na, they'd eat anything" Donghyuck says, smirking. </p><p>"Oh, you're on Lee" Jaemin crawls over Jeno's lap and opens the door. He grabs Renjun's wrist and starts booking towards the market. "HEY YOU'RE CHEATING!! CHENLE, JENO LET'S GO!!" </p><p>.</p><p>Donghyuck stopped Jaemin and Renjun to tell them they gotta make dinner and desert.</p><p>And they only have an hour to shop. </p><p>Renjun kept that in mind until he step foot into the whole store. "Holy shit" he whispers under his breath. </p><p>The market looked more like a shopping mall then a grocery store. </p><p>With a escalator smack in the middle, the whole floor had families and fellow tired university students going into aisle after aisle with their shopping carts. The building surrounds Renjun in clear glass with lights hanging to keep the night bright in the building. </p><p>"Huang Renjun!" Renjun turns to whoever was calling him. Jaemin is coming up to him with a cart. "I know the place is big, but the time is ticking! Come on, I know this place at the back of my hand" Jaemin puts Renjun's hands on the cart handle and they both push it together to one of the aisles on the first floor. </p><p>"Each floor has different types of items. This floor has all of your bread, rice, and other starches. The second is filled with fruits, veggies, and floral crap. The third floor has all of the frozen food and the refrigerated items so" he tugs on Renjun's jacket. "Make sure to be cozy cause that place is cold as Jisung's hands." </p><p>Jisung's hands are pretty cold. </p><p>"The fourth floor has all of your Asian stuff like kimchee and oyster sauce and the fifth floor has snacks and miscellaneous items. Any questions?" </p><p>Well that was a lot of info for Renjun to process. </p><p>"Uh yes just one.. What are we making?" Jaemin stops the cart. "Good question, what ARE we making?" </p><p>.</p><p>They spent the next 30 minutes trying to decide what they can make. </p><p>They decided to make hot pot with a chocolate and vanilla marble cake (hey that rhymed).</p><p>Great, now they have 30 minutes to get everything and pay. </p><p>"We need meat, spinach, mushrooms, dumplings, and shrimp."</p><p>"And the cake?" </p><p>"Eggs, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, salt, baking powder, and butter." </p><p>Jaemin claps his hands. "If I could rush to our dorm room I bet I can try get the eggs, sugar, salt, flour, mushrooms, and butter." Renjun tilts his head. "Won't that be cheating?" Jaemin puts his hand on Renjun's shoulder. "Trust me, Donghyuck doesn't play by the rules either. I have competed against him many times. Plus I don't think he cares."</p><p>Perfect. </p><p>Renjun nods. "Let's get the pastry stuff since we're here!" </p><p>They grab the stuff they need. Of course, they try to grab the cheap stuff since you know; they're broke college students. </p><p>In the midst of deciding whether or not they should use wontons or mandoo (Renjun didn't think there were was a huge variety of frozen dumplings), Jaemin says he needs to grab his wallet from the car. "Oh don't worry about it, I can pay" Renjun says (in reality he can only pay for half of the stuff they're grabbing, but he can try guilt trip Mark or Jeno to pay the rest). "No, I don't want you to pay by yourself. I will be right back." Jaemin says before running off. </p><p>"There he goes, running off again." </p><p>Renjun jumps from the sudden voice. He turns and sees Mark chomping on a sample he found on the 5th floor. "You scared me!" Mark stops chewing and rubs his neck. "Sorry, I was watching from a far." </p><p>"Aren't you supposed to be waiting in the car?" </p><p>Mark takes another bite of his sample then crumples the trash into his pocket. "Nah, Jisung and I got bored. This snack was pretty good, I should get a bag. Good luck!" Mark says, then walks off. Renjun doesn't even try to ask him where Jisung is (probably with Chenle). </p><p>"Anyways..huh the mandoo is cheaper." </p><p>.</p><p>When Jaemin came back, he was panting and sweating. "What happened? I thought you were finding your wallet??" Renjun asks. Jaemin bends down, putting his hands on his knees. "I uh, had to fight with a dog for it." Renjun raises a brow. "A.. dog?" </p><p>"Yup, pretty big and strong." Jaemin gets up. "Did you get everything? Let's go pay" he says, and walks off to the nearest cashier. Renjun stands there confused. "Why would he have a hard time wrestling a dog? He's a werewolf!" he thinks. Renjun shakes his head. "Don't get suspicious, just keep walking. Don't think about it too much, don't ask ANY questions, don't even THINK about any questions!" </p><p>Alas, Renjun has formed new questions that he knows he can't get the answers for.</p><p>Oh, how the night is ruined. </p><p>.</p><p>"Alright chefs! You have like an hour to make your dishes!" </p><p>"Only an hour?" </p><p>"Only an hour!" </p><p>"Markkyyyy please add in like 30 minutes pleaseee??" Donghyuck begs, jutting his lip out and giving the biggest puppy eyes he can concur. Mark would've gave in if it wasn't for Jisung butting in. "Hyungs we're hungry. Either you guys make the food or WE will make the food." </p><p>That seemed like a pretty legit threat. </p><p>"OK, ok an hour it is!" The contenders squeeze into the kitchen and start to grab their items.</p><p>"Wait! I didn't say g- you know what never mind." </p><p>"I'll start making the broth, you chop the veggies" Renjun says. Jaemin nods and squeezes past Chenle for the knife. Renjun squats down and opens the cupboards for a pot. Whilst trying to get to the stove, Jeno accidentally spills water on Renjun's head. "Oops sorry!" Jeno says and places the pot on the stove. </p><p>"Hyungs! I need a spot to chop the onions!" </p><p>"Ow, Jeno your elbow is stabbing me in the side"</p><p>"AH HA I FOUND A PO- *bang* OH MY GOD HYUCK ARE YOU OK??" </p><p>"Yes yes I'm fine, now move to where you need to be" </p><p>"Knife, knife, KNIFE! CHENLE BE CAREFUL I HAVE A KNIFE" </p><p>"I can heal myself it's fine!" </p><p>"Why did you take up all of the spots on the stove??" </p><p>"Cause it's my house Huang!" </p><p>"It's an apartment not a house!" </p><p>"Jeno shut up." </p><p>It was kinda cramped. Kinda </p><p>(They would've had more room if they all didn't stay in one area of the kitchen)</p><p>.</p><p>"Renjun, I think we should make the cake now!" </p><p>"Why? The hot pot is not even boiling!" </p><p>There was 20 minutes left on the clock. </p><p>"Jun there's no time!" Jaemin says. The latter starts to grab all of the cake ingredients. "I'm going to mix all of this in the living room!" (finally, someone is using their brain cell)</p><p>"Ok! Jeno is your stove broken?" Jeno looks up from his mixing bowl. "Ah no that's a gas stove." </p><p>"Oh... a gas stove? Why is the rest of your stove spots electric?" Renjun asks. Jeno once again stops mixing and looks at his stove. "Oh yeah! Hyuck why does our stove have on gas stove spot?" Donghyuck just shrugs and focuses on frosting a cupcake. "Well we'll never know, the gas must be off so you can turn it on over the-" </p><p>"I'll turn it on, Renjun go mix the cake." Jaemin says coming into the kitchen. </p><p>Renjun lets go a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Thank you" he whispers, and runs off to the living room to finish what Jaemin has started. </p><p>Jaemin actually pretty much separated everything in its place. Now all Renjun has to do is mix everything together. </p><p>"15 minutes guys!" Mark yells from the couch. </p><p>Renjun's eyes widen and he quickly mixes the batter together. "Jaemin! Preheat the oven!" </p><p>"I can't! Chenle's legs are in the way!" </p><p>"Then move them!" </p><p>Chenle's squeal like screams erupt from the kitchen. </p><p>"I said move them not attack them!" </p><p>"He won't move!" </p><p>Renjun gets up and runs into the kitchen to move Chenle. When he sees the stove however, he grabs the cake pan and Jaemin's wrist and steps out. "We're gonna use a spell to cook this thing." Renjun whispers. They were standing at the door way away from the other team and Mark and Jisung so they don't hear them, which is kind of useless since everyone in the room has super hearing except for Renjun. "I can still hear you!" Mark yells (you see my point?). "I can hear you guys too!" Jeno yells after. "Don't act like I didn't see Donghyuck using his ability to move water into your pots!!!" Renjun shouts back. A disgruntled sound from Donghyuck responds back to Renjun. "Anyways the hot pot is almost done so at the least we should use magic to bake this thing" Renjun says in a louder volume. </p><p>"You have potions??" Jaemin asks. Renjun goes to grab the cake batter bowl and hands it to Jaemin along with the pan. He grabs a baseball sized orange ball from his belt. "Bam, a growth potion. I forgot to put it back in my room before we left for the library" he says. Jaemin smiles. "Let's do it!" The taller sits on the ground starts to pour the batter into the pan. </p><p>"10 more minutes!!" </p><p>Jaemin runs back into the kitchen and grabs a spatula. "What about icing?"</p><p>They completely forgot about toppings. </p><p>"Uhhh, just grab the extra chocolate from earlier and melt it on the stove!" Jaemin nods and runs back into the kitchen. </p><p>Renjun hovers the orange ball over the pan. "Steady... steady!" he thinks. "I only need a little bit!" If Renjun were to pop the whole thing, then the potion will grow the cake to the size of a 12 story building. He needs to be careful and has to poke a little hole, to avoid a complete disaster-</p><p>*pop!* Renjun pops the whole thing. </p><p>"SHIT!" </p><p>The cake doesn't do anything for a few seconds. Then, it starts to rise at a fast rate. "Uhhh Jaemin?" </p><p>The cake continues to grow larger at a faster speed. </p><p>"JAEMIN???" </p><p>"What!!??" </p><p>The cake is the size of Jeno's tall potted plant. </p><p>"Can you COME HERE FOR A SECOND???" </p><p>The cake starts to push Renjun into the door. Jaemin rushes out and sees a gigantic cake that is about to push the ceiling into the rooftop. Mark and Jisung, get up from the couch and rush to the growing cake to move it. "Take it out on the patio!" Mark yells. Donghyuck stops stirring his sauce and looks out of the kitchen. "What the hell?" he says and runs out to help. "Chenle come on!" Jeno yells. Chenle turns off his stove and rushes out. </p><p>"You see this is why no magic is a rule!" </p><p>"You used your water abilities to water down our hot pot you are in no position to say that Hyuck!" </p><p>"Well at least I'm the one not the one who made a 50 feet cake!" </p><p>"GUYS HURRY UP AND THROW IT OVER THE LEDGE ALREADY." </p><p>The cake isn't getting smaller. As the boys drag it to the patio, crumbs are dragged on the ceiling leaving a messy trail behind them. </p><p>"ALMOST THERE!!" </p><p>Chenle runs around and opens the door to the patio. "I don't think it's gonna fit!" Jeno yells out. "You think?" Donghyuck yells back. As soon as they get to the patio door, they all go around to the back of it and push. "Come onnnn!!!" The cake, slowly carves out of the door and onto the patio leaving residue all over the windows. "We're almost there!"</p><p>A few pushes and a couple of labor jokes later ("it's crowning!" "Chenle shut up!"), the boys were able to get the cake onto the patio. Thankfully, it stopped growing. However, now they have clean up a crumb infested apartment. </p><p>Silently, all of them slowly turn to Renjun. He laughs nervously and puts his hands behind his back. "So... who's ready for dinner?" </p><p>.</p><p>Took them like 2 hours to clean everything, but they managed.</p><p>"I'm really sorry guys" </p><p>"Oh my goodness stop apologizing we forgive you!" </p><p>"But I feel bad!!" </p><p>Donghyuck gets up from the floor and puts a hand on Renjun's shoulder. "it's good Junnie. Sure we got the apartment messy but hey! We have a cake that'll last us for days!" </p><p>"I don't think we all are gonna be able to finish that" Jaemin says staring at the gigantic loaf of sweetness quietly sitting on the patio. "Eh, we can share it with the our neighbors, they're college students they'll accept anything for food." Jeno says, giving his famous eye smile. "If you guys are going to give that thing away then I'm going to get a head start and pack my piece" Chenle says. "Knock yourself out, containers are in the cupboard on the left" Donghyuck says. Chenle jumps from the couch and runs into the kitchen. 'I'm going to say that Hyuck's team won the dinner part and Renjun's team won dessert" Mark says, wiping the windows of the patio door.  Renjun puts his hands on his hips. "Why didn't we win the dinner part?" he asks sulkily. "Well I liked your hot pot and all but their spaghetti was bomb! Plus Hyuck would kill me if I didn't give him some sort of win." Donghyuck coos and pecks Mark on his cheek. "The man knows me so well" he says. </p><p>"Well for me, I'll give it all to Renjun's team. Their hot pot was actually pretty good. It fits my tastes and the this cake is great" Jisung says while shoving some cake into his mouth. "Chenle grab me a container too! Taehyun will love this!" </p><p>Renjun laughs. He looks at Jaemin scrubbing the hell out of the ceiling. Jeno scares him by poking him in the side. As revenge, Jaemin rips crumbs from the ceiling and throw it at a laughing Jeno who falls onto the floor from the impact. </p><p>"It's really great to see them laughing like that. I'm glad Jaemin was able to join us tonight." Donghyuck says. Renjun smiles when the two start play fight each other. </p><p>"I'm glad too."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Dang, they couldn't even put the frosting on that thing before it became huge &gt;.&lt;</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. 4. The Chaotic Wind Spirit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Dreamies interact with their first elemental spirit</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>SUP </p><p>Thank you guys for reading this fic! I know compared to other fics on this site, this one is a bit.. strange, but I'm glad people like it! </p><p>Thank you guys once again!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jaemin went back to his quiet self a day after the cook off. Renjun didn't mind though, he has opened up more then he had done in the last two years they've known each other. </p><p>Renjun actually got used to Jaemin disappearing at night. Both know that Renjun knows when Jaemin leaves and comes back home. Sometimes, Jaemin would leave dinner for Renjun to eat when he gets home from working at the library. Other times, Renjun would be the one feeding Jaemin by packing him dinner in a lunch bag. </p><p>There's this silent agreement between the two. That nothing should be questioned and should just be left the way it is. </p><p>The wolf eventually got comfortable enough to lay around the dorm in his wolf form in front of Renjun. Sometimes when Jaemin isn't gone for the next 4 hours and if they don't have any essays to hack at, they'd lay on the couch together and quietly watch a movie. Renjun would sit on the couch and pet Jaemin while he lays next to the latter in his wolf form. </p><p>They don't say anything. When the movie ends, they both get up and go to their rooms. </p><p>Renjun hasn't questioned anything, nor has he hasn't thought of anything. </p><p>.</p><p>"Since when were you working here?" </p><p>Jisung drops his fake smile and replaces it with a real one. "Oh hey hyungs! I've been working here since I graduated lol, anyways what do you guys want?" </p><p>Renjun currently is at the mall shopping for some new socks (the dryer sock mystery will never be solved). Donghyuck, who worked at a pet shop, was on break so they went to get boba together. </p><p>"I uhhh will have a regular black milk tea with boba and 75% sweetness." Donghyuck says. Jisung hums and puts down Donghyuck's order on the iPad. "What about you Renjun hyung?" Renjun doesn't say anything and continues to stare at the menu. </p><p>"Uhhh" </p><p>"Look Renjun I know this isn't Taiwanese boba but this is all we got at the moment so just order something." Donghyuck deadpans. Renjun pouts. "I'm not THAT bad." </p><p>"Hyung you refused to even take a SIP out of my boba drink cause it was from that one store across Chef Nakamoto's place" Jisung says. "Hey! I just.. don't like that place. I'll have a matcha milk tea with lychee jelly and boba. 100% sweetness thanks." Jisung jots down Renjun's order. "Okayy, that'll be $10.89." </p><p>.</p><p>After paying, Renjun and Donghyuck sit down in the empty boba store in front of a window and watch the shoppers walk past, bags in their hands and chatter coming out of their mouths. </p><p>"Wow, we're all adults huh?" </p><p>Renjun stops observing a couple fighting over a lotion bottle that happened to be part of a sidewalk sale and turns to Donghyuck. "What do you mean?" </p><p>"Well, all of us got jobs. Jisung works here, I work at the pet shop, Chenle works at the tutoring center, Jeno works at the ramen shop, you work at the library, Mark has a internship at the hospital, and Jaemin has.. whatever he does late at night." Donghyuck turns to Renjun and rests his head on his hand. "Where does he go every night?" he asks. Renjun sips his boba (it was actually pretty good to be honest), avoiding eye contact with Donghyuck. "You know something do you?" Renjun sighs. "I wish, all I know is what time he disappears and when he comes back. We kinda made this agreement to not say anything so we don't." Donghyuck takes his head off of his hand and sips his own drink. "Have you ever tried to follow him?" Donghyuck asks, chewing the tapioca pearls making Renjun cringe. "Ew chew first then talk." Donghyuck annoys him further by making obnoxious chewing noises right in front of Renjun's face. "Stoooop. I've tried, but he caught me, locked me in my room, then rolled me into a blanket burrito." After hearing that story, the merman bursts out laughing. "He wrapped you in a blanket burrito? That is the cutest form of captivity I have ever heard!" he laughs out. Renjun rolls his eyes and looks for the couple who was fighting over the lotion bottle. Much to Renjun's disappointment they were gone. </p><p>Donghyuck stops laughing and takes a sip. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if Jaemin caught you. He's very cunning." Renjun tilts his head. "What story do you have?" Donghyuck laughs out again, only this time it was weaker. "All of us have tried to see what Na Jaemin was always doing. We all actually worked together to track him down, but he managed to catch all of us red handed." Donghyuck takes another sip and makes sure to chew his pearls with his mouth closed to keep his best friend sane. "He would always leave right after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays to who knows where. We tried to see where he lived, but it seemed like he didn't have a place to call home."  Renjun's heart stops for a moment. "He.. didn't have a home?" </p><p>"No he did, it's just we never found out where he lived. The weirder thing is that he doesn't seem to have any family." Renjun puts down his drink. "Wow.. that's sad" he whispers. "Yeah, we were pretty bummed when we found out too. That's when we stopped snooping around. He had enough to deal with already." Renjun plays with his straw. He thinks about how happy Jaemin was when he announced he's going to the cook off. </p><p>Then he saw a picnic basket on display for the sidewalk sale. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun doesn't really know when Jaemin stays home for the rest of the night. </p><p>It's always random. One week he would stay home, then the next week, he's out till like 3 (then in the morning, Renjun has to deal with a grumpy Jaemin). Sometimes Jaemin would stay home, but would lock himself in his room. </p><p>He's a wild card.</p><p>For now, Renjun just buys a bunch of small flag banners, a picnic basket, and some olive oil (they are starting to run out at home). </p><p>He didn't have time to go back to his dorm, so he had to bring the items with him to his afternoon spells class.</p><p>"Are you going to a picnic after this or something?" Donghyuck asked (his shift had ended in time for class). "Nah, I just wanted to do something." Donghyuck narrows his eyes. "Are you planning to.. have a picnic with Jaemin or something?" </p><p>"Ok class let's get started!" Professor Qian says after his power point boots up </p><p>"Hey! Let's focus on Prof!" Renjun says. </p><p>.</p><p>Donghyuck had to give Mark his lunch so they went to the medical room.</p><p>"Oh sorry he isn't here today, Dr. Kim had called him out early to watch a heart surgery" Mark's professor said.</p><p>So they took a bus to the hospital. </p><p>"Where is the cardiovascular ward again?" Renjun asks. "Beats me, I still don't know where everything is" Donghyuck replies back, looking at the hospital map.</p><p>After much trial and error (Renjun feels like that one lady at the neurology ward hates them now), Renjun and Donghyuck finally got to the cardiovascular ward. </p><p>"Hi, we're looking for Mark Lee? I have his lunch and wanted to give it to him." The lady at the front desk nods and dials a number on a phone. "Hey, I was wondering if the surgery for Mrs. Lee is finished" she says into the speaker. "Mhm. Oh no these two boys wanted to see Mark Lee, one of them have lunch for him. Ok, thanks!" she puts the phone back to the receiver. "The surgery just finished so he'll come see you two in just a moment" the lady smiles. "Ok, thank you!" Donghyuck says. He points to some waiting chairs and they both proceeded to sit down. </p><p>"So about this picnic thing-" </p><p>"What picnic thing." </p><p>Donghyuck looks at Renjun with a displeased face. "Huang, you know what I am talking about." Renjun sighs. "OK ok, I just wanted to do something nice for Jaemin. After that talk we had I felt really bad for him and wanted to make him happy."</p><p>Donghyuck smiles. "Wow, that is very nice. Way to make him fall deeper for you." Renjun's looks up from the ground. "What?" </p><p>"MARKYYYY!!!!" </p><p>Mark stands still as Donghyuck runs up to him and gives him a hug. "Hello my little lion, here is your lunch!" Mark chuckles and pecks Donghyuck's head. "Thanks Hyuck." He spots Renjun sitting at the chairs. Renjun gives a little wave and Mark gives one back. "Mark hurry up, Dr. Kim wants us back in the meeting room!" one of Mark's colleagues says. Mark gives an ok sign to her and thanks Donghyuck once again by giving him a tight hug. He waves at Renjun once more and walks off with his classmate. </p><p>"Now what's this talk about Jaemin falling for me?" Renjun asks when Donghyuck walks back. "Now, now Junnie the man has his secrets let him be." </p><p>"Renjun!" </p><p>Renjun and Donghyuck turn their heads. Mark runs up to them. "Dr. Kim told me to tell you that Jaemin will come back home today."</p><p>How did he-</p><p>"O-oh, ok... tell him I said.. thanks" Renjun says. Donghyuck makes a confused noise. Mark just shrugs, says bye, and runs back to the meeting room. "What was that all about?" Renjun wasn't sure, and now he's really scared of that weird doctor. </p><p>.</p><p>As told by Dr. Kim (The doctor somehow knew about Renjun being ambushed by vampires late at night and his picnic plan so he takes a shot at trusting him), Renjun makes some fruit and ham sandwiches (they were separate types of sandwiches don't worry). He's planning to have a picnic indoors while also watching Frozen 2 on Disney+. When Renjun managed to finish the sandwiches, Jaemin had arrived at the dorms. "Jaemin! Are you doing anything tonight?" Renjun asks from the kitchen. Jaemin walks into the kitchen. "No why?" Renjun whips towards the wolf and starts pushing him out of the kitchen. "Hey what are you doing?" </p><p>"Go and take a shower or something, and change into your sleepwear!" Renjun says. He doesn't give Jaemin enough time to ask more questions and successfully pushes him into the bathroom. "Just do what I say Jaem!" he shouts, then quickly goes to the living room to set everything up. </p><p>.</p><p>"Do you.. need help Renjun?" </p><p>"No, no I'm good!" </p><p>The latter did need help, cause he's a tiny boy. </p><p>And tiny boys usually can't hang up fairy lights on a wall without some sort of assistance. </p><p>"Renjun you're gonna get hurt." </p><p>"I'll be fi- AH!" </p><p>Renjun loses his balance on the back of the couch and falls. Luckily Jaemin was there able to catch him bridal style to avoid his skull being cracked open on their coffee table. </p><p>"Can you please tell me what you're doing?" Jaemin asks, still carrying Renjun. The human sighs and climbs out of Jaemin's arms to stand on the couch's cushions. "I wanted to hold a indoor picnic with you" Renjun says, sitting down when Jaemin told him to in fear of him falling again. "You seemed.. really tired lately and I wanted to relax you with a little picnic while watching some Frozen 2." The taller gives Renjun a small smile. "That's really sweet of you Jun. Thank you." Renjun gives a small laugh and rubs his neck. Jaemin goes up to their couch and picks up the fallen fairy lights. "You can set up the blankets and everything. I can set up the lights." </p><p>"But I wanted to-" </p><p>"Renjun, I don't want to go to the ER." </p><p>The smaller closes his mouth and immediately goes to their supply closet for extra blankets to set up on the ground. </p><p>.</p><p>Once set up, the two fire up Frozen 2 and lay down on the blankets. </p><p>"What did you make?" Jaemin asks. He peers into the basket curiously before Renjun shuts the basket close. "Hey! You almost chopped my face off!" Jaemin pouts. Renjun rolls his eyes and reopens the basket. He grabs little containers filled with the ham sandwiches he made earlier and purple and green grapes (Jaemin's one including the blood sauce he needs to digest of course). Then, he pulls out two cheap plastic champagne glasses that makes Jaemin raise an eyebrow (which Renjun totally didn't find a bit hot... totally...). "We're... drinking?" Renjun shakes his head with a smile and takes out a apple cider bottle. "I wanted this night to be a sober one thank you very much." </p><p>"Ayyy, you're no fun Junnie." </p><p>Renjun laughs then starts to fill one of the glasses with apple cider. "Here you go, a nice non alcoholic drink along with some yummy sandwiches" he says, giving Jaemin his sandwich box and glass. "Thank you kind sir" he replies back. He carefully puts down the glass and opens up his box. The four little sandwiches sit neatly, two stacked up on top of each other, with green and purple grapes surrounding them. Jaemin's blood sauce is sat cozy in the corner of the box in a dipping container. The sandwiches are also decorated with a tiny pink rabbit toothpick, poked into the center of the bread. "This is so cute Renjun!" Jaemin practically squeals. Renjun giggles. "I have more sandwiches in the basket if you want more. There's also fruit ones if you'd like." The vampire gives Renjun a bright smile.</p><p>"Thank you Renjun." </p><p>The latter smiles back and raises his glass. They give a cheers and rewind the movie cause they pretty much missed the whole beginning. </p><p>.</p><p>They spend the rest of the night eating and watching the movie. </p><p>When Frozen 2 was done, they played the first movie, then Big Hero 6. </p><p>Slowly one by one, the sandwiches start to disappear. The apple cider bottle becomes less full by the minute (many bathroom breaks had to be taken). </p><p>Jaemin had become so comfortable, he changed into his wolf form. Instead of sitting away from Renjun like he usually does in their regular movie nights, Jaemin creeps onto the latter's lap and lays his head. At first, Renjun didn't really notice. He was so invested in Hiro's microbots (his curiosity peaked again) that he unconsciously started to pet the wolf's head. The petting starts to lull Jaemin to sleep and by the time the epic suit gear up scene came on, Renjun heard tiny snores. He slowly looked down at his lap and finally noticed the wolf sleeping. </p><p>He froze. </p><p>"Ok, ok, Renjun it's ok he's just sleeping it's ok" Renjun thinks. He pauses the movie and quietly clears up his area as much as he could without waking the wolf up. When he finished, he sits and tries to problem solve. After a while, Renjun decides to try carry Jaemin to his bed. If he could carry a Samoyed Jeno who was crying during a 15 minute walk to the convenience store, Renjun was pretty sure he can carry a smaller then average wolf to a room that was only a few feet away. </p><p>He was right, but a wolf is a bit heavier then a Samoyed. </p><p>So when Renjun gets into Jaemin's room, he practically yeets him onto the bed. </p><p>Thankfully since he's such a deep sleeper, the wolf didn't wake up. He did start to get uncomfortable though, and starts to whine. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Renjun says quickly walking to the wolf. He kneels down and starts to pet his head. Upon closer inspection, Renjun notices little tears on the wolf's small face. </p><p>A pang goes through his heart. </p><p>Gently, Renjun uses his thumb to swipe away the tears. Eventually they stopped coming out. Renjun stops petting Jaemin's head and slowly gets up to cover him up with his blanket. Then he walks to the door way where he stops to get a last look at the wolf. "Good night Jaem" he whispers before silently closing the door to his bedroom and going out to clean everything up. </p><p>(He had to leave the fairy lights up cause he couldn't get them.) </p><p>.</p><p>"IT WENT THAT WAY GO OVER THERE!!" </p><p>"NO IT WENT THAT WAY!!" </p><p>"HOW CAN YOU BE SO SURE??" </p><p>"CAUSE I JUST SAW A LITTLE TORNADO PRETTY MUCH BURST INTO SANDWICHES ASAP." </p><p>Ok, let's back track here. We just went straight into chaos from a cozy Renmin movie night. </p><p>The next day was a headache. </p><p>Everything was going normally. Renjun and Donghyuck were taking notes in their elemental spells class and listening to Professor Qian lecture something about potion bottles and fish (Renjun thinks the professor lost his point when he started to talk about his date with Ten at a sushi restaurant which, made Donghyuck tear up a little bit when he kept talking about cut up fish). This year, they were sitting near the window unlike their freshman and sophomore year which was smack in the middle of the lecture seats (some entitled nerdy freshmen took their seat first so they had to sit somewhere else). Renjun didn't mind though. The bright Korean spring sun gave him warmth in the cold A.C classroom. The tile patterned window took up the whole wall, shoving light at not only those sitting by it, but everywhere else in the classroom. It faced a long green patch of grass and another building, which wasn't really the greatest view but was still pretty. </p><p>Then it happened. </p><p>When Professor Qian moved on to some notes on a power point, a purple thing whizzed by the window. Renjun couldn't really catch it. He only saw it in his peripheral, so he took his mind off of it and went back to typing his notes. </p><p>Then the thing came back again. </p><p>This time Donghyuck notices and nudges Renjun. "It's nothing I'm sure" he whispers. </p><p>Then it starts to create a tornado and burst into the classroom through the window. </p><p>Books and laptops start to fly into the cyclone of wind. Both the students and Professor Qian had to hold onto their desks because of how strong the purple tornado is. Then it bursts through the room's door and disperses, flinging the supplies it took into the hall way outside. </p><p>"Are you sure it's nothing Huang? Cause I'm pretty sure that thing just took my notebook and.. pretty much everything else in this classroom." Donghyuck says, jumping over the seats to grab his precious class notes.   </p><p>The students whose supplies were also taken by the sudden purple angry tornado do same and run out to see if their stuff were ok (especially those with laptops). The others stay back and start to talk within themselves. </p><p>"What the heck was that?" </p><p>"God that was so strong!" </p><p>"Did you see how it just flinged Eunbyul's Mac like it was a rag doll?" </p><p>Renjun himself questioned what happened. He looked to Professor Qian for guidance and answers, but the professor was equally shaken up and confused as his students. </p><p>"I-it's ok guys! I'll go talk to the main office-" </p><p>A scream is heard from another classroom. The tornado bursts out of a door like it had done with Professor Qian's and started to fling school supplies into the hallway. Qian's students come running back into their lecture room in fear of getting hit by any textbooks or laptops. </p><p>"You know what class dismissed! Go out carefully through the broken window, I don't want you guys to get hit by that wind spirit!" </p><p>Wind spirit? </p><p>Donghyuck comes running back in with his notebook to his seat. "Let's get out of here Renjun!" he says shoving it into his backpack. Renjun nods blankly and does the same with his laptop. They join the flood of students climbing out of the hole that used to be a beautiful glass window. </p><p>"Well class is canceled! What do you want to do?" Donghyuck asks sarcastically.</p><p>Students start to flood out of the building. The wind spirit flies out after them and turns into a tornado again destroying every tree and even sucking some kids into it too. </p><p>Panicked, Donghyuck and Renjun start heading towards the tornado to get the students out.</p><p>"Give me a push Hyuck!" Renjun yells </p><p>"Got it!" Donghyuck yells back, creating water from his hands. He manipulates the water to lift Renjun from the ground which then launch him towards the tornado. </p><p>"RENJUN BE CAREFUL!!" Professor Qian yells out from his classroom. </p><p>Renjun uses his elemental to grow a branch from a tree that was sucked up in the tornado. The branch comes out and he jumps off of Donghyuck's water to hang onto the branch. He creates a force field around himself and starts to shimmy into the tornado. The wind spirit then suddenly stops and turns into its natural form again. The abrupt stop causes the trees and students to be flung in all sorts of directions. </p><p>"RENJUN!!" Donghyuck yells in fear. He manipulates water to catch Renjun and a few other students. Once they reached the ground, the students book it with their friends. Others start to call 119 for assistance. </p><p>Renjun himself slides off of Donghyuck's water onto the ground. "OH MY GOD PLEASE DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN THANKS" Donghyuck says running up to hug his best friend. "Are you ok??" the merman asks checking Renjun for any injuries. "I'm fine, I'm fine"  </p><p>"Guys!!" </p><p>Donghyuck and Renjun turn. Jeno and Jisung run up to them as fast as possible. "Are you guys ok?? We heard the ruckus from our building!" Jisung asks panting. "Yeah we're fine, let's get out of here." Donghyuck says. They all run out to Jeno's car to drive away from campus as fast as possible. </p><p>.</p><p>The wind spirit didn't do that much damage to the school, but it was still pretty bad. </p><p>Holes were in each supernatural building, trees were every where. Students were injured and had to be sent to the ER. </p><p>Thankfully, it didn't go up to the dorms so students were able to go home though many of them were too scared to go back on campus. </p><p>However, authorities couldn't catch the spirit. </p><p>"We are trying everything we can to catch that wind spirit" Dean Lee says in a school wide live stream. "The dorms were thankfully were not affected so you may come back if you want to. Please do not be afraid as we are working to catch it. In the meanwhile, classes for both supernatural and regular students are cancelled for the day. Classes for the students of the Magic Hall are cancelled for the next 3 to 5 days for building reconstruction. Thank you all for staying strong during this troubling time."</p><p>"Geez, what is this spirit's problem?" Chenle says. </p><p>Renjun, Jeno, Donghyuck, and Jisung drove to the mall for a quick lets-calm-down snack. Jaemin, Chenle, and Mark come soon after when they hear evacuation alerts from the professors. </p><p>"I know right? Professor Qian was just getting into the meat of our lecture when that purple thing HAD to HURTLE into our freaking window and ruin everything" Donghyuck sulkily says before aggressively biting into a corn dog. </p><p>"Since when have you paid attention in lectures?" Jeno asks raising an eyebrow. "Look, I only pay attention when it's interesting. Like for example, learning the science of a manipulated elemental is a bore but learning how to USE your elemental is the reason why I paid for my classes." </p><p>Renjun rolls his eyes and takes a bit of his corn dog. Jaemin, who went off to make a phone call, stomps back to his table. Renjun and the others turn to the latter walking back to the table. He was noticeably pissed off. </p><p>VERY pissed off. </p><p>"You.. ok dude?" Mark asks. "Yeah peachy" Jaemin replies back, aggressively pulling out his chair before plopping his bottom on it. The rest jump at the screeching noises of his chair and look at each other. "You know" Donghyuck starts. "You can talk to us if you want-" </p><p>"I said I'm ok" </p><p>The rest of the table go silent. They decide not to question Jaemin further and continue their conversations quietly. Renjun furrows his eyebrows, staring at the boy next to him who fiddles his phone. When he didn't seem to get the thing he was looking for, Jaemin slams his phone on the table and chomps his corn dog, not caring that it'll cost him a painful pain in his vampire stomach after. </p><p>The conversations stop then go a volume level lower. Renjun quietly moves his hand to reach Jaemin's under the table. He looks at the vampire, but he doesn't look at him. Jaemin only squeezes Renjun's hand and continues to eat his corn dog. Jeno slides a blood sauce across the table for Jaemin to dip in. "Jaem, please use it" Renjun whispers. Jaemin stops chewing and puts down the corn dog. He grabs the sauce and quietly thanks Jeno. </p><p>"Thank you, Renjun" he whispers very quietly after. If Renjun wasn't paying attention he wouldn't have caught it. </p><p>He hears it though, and gives a light squeeze as his response. </p><p>.</p><p>"I don't think I wanna go back to the dorms just yet" Mark says when they get out of the mall. The rest agree, they were all afraid that the spirit would wreck their living spaces. </p><p>"Then what should we do for the next hour?" Donghyuck asks. "How about going to District Dream for a nice cool off" Jeno suggests. They all agree..</p><p>Except for Jaemin. </p><p>"I gotta look for something at my dorm, sorry guys." His friends all look at each other and smile gently at him. "It's ok dude, call us if you need anything ok?" Mark says, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Do you want anything from Dream?" Chenle and Jisung ask in unison. Jaemin shakes his head. "Not for now, but I'll text you guys if something comes up" he smiles. </p><p>Jaemin looks at Renjun. Their hands were still together (their friends of course noticed but didn't say anything), so Jaemin gives light squeeze and lets go. Renjun smiles, but it wasn't bright. As they are all about to say their good byes, Jaemin turns around and suddenly starts booking towards something across the street. </p><p>"Well geez good bye to you too sir!" Donghyuck says. Renjun narrows his eyes. A light purple like wind starts flying away as soon as Jaemin starts running towards it.</p><p>Then it turns into a tornado and starts to wreck some department store. </p><p>"GUYS!!" Renjun shouts. The rest turn to where Renjun was pointing. Their mouths hung open. </p><p>They all rushed to the purple tornado.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh to be Renjun and have a indoor picnic with his crush and watch Frozen 2</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. 5. Wind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Let's go chase a wind spirit in the busy streets of District 127!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ello, welcome to my story huhuhuhuhu </p><p>Just a warning, this was the first time I have ever wrote a fight scene so I apologize for it being so bad (then again this whole fic is strange so-) </p><p>We are getting close to the middle part of the story! Thank you guys for making it this far!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Renjun applied for Neo University, he didn't expect to go spirit hunting in the busy streets of Neo City. </p><p>But here he was, chasing Gale from Frozen 2 but on steroids.  </p><p>"IT WENT THAT WAY GO OVER THERE!!" Jeno shouts</p><p>"NO IT WENT THAT WAY!!" Jisung shouts back at him. </p><p>"HOW CAN YOU BE SO SURE??" Donghyuck shouts. </p><p>"CAUSE I JUST SAW A LITTLE TORNADO PRETTY MUCH BURST INTO SANDWICHES ASAP." Jisung replies. </p><p>"OK LET'S ASSESS" Mark shouts. "How are we going to catch that thing??" </p><p>His friends turn to him. "What do you mean WE are going to catch him??" Donghyuck practically shouts. "Shouldn't we call the police or something??" </p><p>"No, the police won't be able to catch it, we're gonna have to catch it ourselves." Jaemin says. "We need an object that can hold pure magic." </p><p>"Where are we gonna get that? And plus even if we DID have a object we can't just grab the spirit" Jeno argues. "It's not like we can just grab it by the core and shove it into a container!" </p><p>Core... CORE!</p><p>"We CAN grab it by its core!" Renjun says. His friends stare at him with confusion. "Donghyuck, Jisung, don't you remember that one lesson about wind elements? We were taught that if we get caught in the inside of a tornado, we have to get to the eye and push it apart. If we do just that, we'll for sure catch the spirit!" he says. </p><p>"But we don't have anything to catch it with!" Chenle says. Renjun holds up a finger and reaches for a empty potion ball from his belt. "Brought it for class today, but I guess I can use it for something else" Renjun smirks, playing with the ball. The rest look at each other and nod. "Ok, let's break this plan into details" Mark says. "Huddle up guys!" </p><p>.</p><p>By the time they're done, the spirit had left the sandwich shop. "Where could it have gone?" Chenle asks. No one knew, the spirit had no sense of pattern so they can't track it down. </p><p>Then they heard screaming down the road. </p><p>"THERE AT THAT COFFEE HOUSE!!" Jisung yells, and they run as fast as they could. </p><p>When they get there the tornado had already butchered a hole into the wall and started sucking up everything in its path. The boys immediately sprung into action. Jeno, Mark, and Jaemin start grabbing whatever furniture they see and try to barricade the tornado from leaving. Donghyuck, Chenle, and Renjun tell people, both customers and workers, to leave the coffeehouse to avoid people getting sucked into the whirlwind of... well wind. Once they're done, Jisung freezes the entrance hole trapping the tornado and them in the coffeehouse. "OK LET'S DO THIS BEFORE ALL OF US GETS SUCKED IN" Donghyuck shouts. He manipulates water from the coffeehouse's sink to lift Renjun and Jisung up like he had done on campus. In his hand, Renjun holds a branch he broke off of a tree outside. He throws it and Jisung freezes it to the wall. The human then grows the branch to a suitable length and jumps off to hang onto it. Jisung follows right after.</p><p>"GUYS BE CAREFUL!!" Jaemin shouts. Him, Jeno, Mark, Chenle, and now Donghyuck hold the furniture together to keep the tornado in place so it doesn't move. Renjun manipulates the branch to grow into the tornado. Once they get in, they have a hard time holding onto the branch. </p><p>"JISUNG HURRY!" Jisung lets one hand go of the branch and tries to create an ice platform in the middle of the tornado, but almost gets blown away. He freezes his hand to the branch and tries again, aiming his hand to the middle. </p><p>He succeeds, a tall ice platform with a smooth top to stand on is made in the middle. "OK, YOU READY?" Renjun asks after the platform is made. Jisung nods. They join hands and get ready to let go of the branch on a count of three. "1, 2, 3!!" </p><p>They let go and immediately get caught up in the tornado. The spirit realizes what they are doing and blows stronger. The others outside aren't able to hold the furniture as the wind has gotten stronger and get sucked into it. </p><p>"GUYS!!" Renjun shouts when he sees he's friends. "LET'S DO THIS QUICK HYUNG!" Jisung shouts. He uses his ice powers as a rocket to push them closer to the platform. "KINDA GETTING DIZZY!!" Mark shouts as a warning. The two get to the middle. Renjun uses his weight to pull the both of them down. Once his feet touches the icy podium, he creates a force field around him and Jisung along with the platform. The force field shields them from the rest of the tornado. If Renjun were to let go, they'd lose control and get blown in circles. "Let's see if this works!" Renjun says. Jisung copies Renjun's starfish position. "On a count of three! One, two, THREE!" Jisung starts to use his powers to expand the force field. The shield grows bigger but it isn't big enough to break apart the tornado. "Hyung! Try.. to.. widen it!.." Renjun had never tried to widen his force field before, but for the sake of the situation he tries. </p><p>He closes his eyes and focuses. </p><p>Renjun thinks of the force field as a bubble. He takes his wand and blows through the hole to grow the bubble.</p><p>And as the bubble in his mind grows, the force field grows as well. Slowly but surely, the tornado gets weaker and weaker. </p><p>Then, it breaks. </p><p>"HYUNG QUICKLY!" </p><p>Renjun opens his eyes and drops the force field. The spirit in its pure form flies around his head, panicked and frightened. It zooms and bounces off wall to wall like a ball of a pinball machine. Renjun keeps his eyes on it. When it gets closer to him, Renjun jumps up and traps the spirit into his potion ball. </p><p>He caught it. </p><p>"We caught it!" he shouts jumping up and down. Jisung jumps too, clapping like a happy seal. Then they stop, and realize they're still on the platform. In unison, they both look down and see their friends laying on the ground with broken coffeehouse furniture. </p><p>"Uh oh" Jisung says and begins to thaw the platform like he had thawed Robert before. Slowly, the two descent down to the floor. "You guys ok?" Renjun says, jumping off and running up to Jaemin. Jaemin gets up, groaning. "Yup.. We're good." The rest start to get up if they'd had just took a 18 year nap. "Ugh, I am never doing that again" Donghyuck says, messaging his head. "Agreed" Mark says. Jeno stays still then turns into his Samoyed form and starts crying. Chenle gets up, walks over and hugs him. "It's ok Jeno hyung, Renjun ge and Jisung caught it!" Jeno whines in response. "We are all tired Jen" Jaemin responds while getting up. "What do we do now?" Jisung asks. As soon as Jisung asks, police sirens ring from outside of the building. "For now let's go out the back door and RUN!" Mark yells. They all collectively get up and start sprinting towards the back area and out the door. </p><p>.</p><p>"So.. what do we do with this." Donghyuck asks, staring at the very hyper spirit in Renjun's potion ball. </p><p>After escaping, the 7 of them made it into the mall's parking lot where Jeno and Mark's car were waiting for them. "I know where to take this thing" Jaemin says. His hands take the ball out of Donghyuck's. Jaemin looks at his friends and starts to think. He makes eye contact with Renjun and only blinks. "So.. what are we going to do?" Mark asks. Jaemin takes a deep breath and lets it go. </p><p>"Let's go to the hospital" He finally says and starts walking to Jeno's car. His friends stare at him, their minds filling with confusion. </p><p>"Hospital?" Renjun thinks. </p><p>.</p><p>Jaemin had instructed those who had taken Mark's car (that would be Chenle, Jisung, and Mark himself) to wait at the lobby of the hospital. He tells Jeno, Renjun, and Donghyuck the same when they stopped at a red light. "Ok yeah, but why the hospital??" Jeno asks. "Is there a spirit check up room there or something?" </p><p>"Not.. exactly.." </p><p>Renjun looks at the ball in Jaemin's hands. The spirit, a bit more calm, is peacefully drifting around the ball. Jaemin gently begins to tap the ball as if it he was coercing it to sleep. "Can spirits even sleep?" Renjun thinks to himself. He looks at the front, ignoring Jeno's and Donghyuck's conversation. His head starts filling up with many questions. "Why couldn't we have let the professionals take care of it? Why are we going to the hospital? What does Jaemin know?" Then, he remembers something.</p><p>"The Psychology of Elemental Spirits"</p><p>.</p><p>"What does a spirit have to do with the circulatory system?" </p><p>"Hyuck shush." </p><p>"Did you know what's going on??" </p><p>"Hey don't look at me I only specialize in hearts!" </p><p>Despite being able to hear his friend's whispers, Jaemin stays silent and faces front towards the elevator door. Once they reached the cardiovascular ward, he starts walking towards something that wasn't the main room of the ward. "The main room's this way dumbass!" Donghyuck shouts. The vampire doesn't say anything and keeps walking. The group look at each other. Renjun starts following him. "Where are you going?" Jeno asks. "Trust him!" Renjun shouts back, running to catch up with the vampire. The rest start following him one by one, questioning more with each step they take. </p><p>.</p><p>When they caught up with Jaemin, he was waiting for them at an restricted area. "Geez you guys are so slow" he finally says. He takes out a FOB key and presses it against a pad on the wall. The pad beeps and the doors slide open. "Hurry up and get in or else you'll just be waiting out here for the next hour" Jaemin says without looking back. The group immediately go through the doors, making Jaemin smile a bit. </p><p>A dark hallway welcomes them when all of them pile through the door. As they walk down, they notice closed doors with labels. </p><p>Containment Room #1 </p><p>Lab #3 </p><p>Revival Room </p><p>"Revival room? Where the heck are we?" Renjun thinks to himself. Jaemin continues walking until they have reached a door at the end of the hallway. </p><p>Office #4</p><p>He knocks on the door. A gentle voice tells them that the door is unlocked. Mark tilts his head. "Wait, was that-" </p><p>Jaemin opens the door. Dr. Kim is sat at a desk, reading a book. His office looks to be like any ordinary doctor's office. A bright room with light blue colored walls. A brown desk sitting in the center, facing the the door. There was a bookshelf on the right of said door and a check up table to the left. Further in to the right was a small dining table with chairs and a mini fridge sitting on a shelf behind the table next to a coffee machine. </p><p>What was chilling was that there were no windows. </p><p>The rest of the floor has windows. The main room has a lots of them. They decorated the waiting rooms, the patient's rooms, the meeting rooms, the offices of the doctors. In this restricted area there were no windows. It was dark, haunting, chilling. The names of the rooms in the hallway didn't help as it makes the place sound like a playground for a mad scientist, looking for its next victim for a experiment. </p><p>"Why do you guys looks so frightened?" Dr. Kim asks. He puts his book down and gets up from his desk. "Go ahead and sit over at that table over there. I'll grab some more chairs for the rest of you to sit in" </p><p>.</p><p>Once all of them sit down, Dr. Kim starts talking. </p><p>"I'm surprised Jaemin let you guys help him" he says, giving them each a cup of juice (he didn't want to give them coffee cause in his mind, these are children). "He's so stubborn when it comes to the jobs I give him" he chuckles and takes a seat of his own. Dr. Kim puts his hands out towards Jaemin. The vampire gives him the potion ball that contains the now sleeping wind spirit. He tsks.</p><p>"Its so young" he says quietly. He strokes the ball lightly, staring at the curled up spirit. Dr. Kim sighs and looks up. His eyes glisten under the artificial lights of the office. "So.. you guys want some answers huh?" The group nods eagerly together at the same time, eyes big with interest. Dr. Kim laughs. </p><p>"Ok, ok, so here's everything." </p><p>.</p><p>After the trip to the hospital, everyone went back to their dorms. </p><p>Upon opening the door to their dorm, Renjun and Jaemin didn't share a word. </p><p>The werewolf goes straight to the bathroom to take a shower and the human goes to his room. </p><p>Renjun flops on his back on his bed. He stares at the big piece of paper he attached on his ceiling freshman year. The paper was filled with stars and a night sky, something he had painted when he was preparing for college in China. </p><p>He sighs. "So this was what Jaemin has been doing" he thinks. Renjun closes his eyes and listens to the water run from the bathroom next to him. "That doesn't explain why he has been so secretive though." A car honks from the street. "Why he's been so quiet with the others and me." The latter gets up. He stares at his desk. He doesn't want to do homework, but needs to get whatever just happened off of his mind for just a second. Renjun gets up fully from his bed and walks over to his paint box. "Canvas.. canvas..." His eyes scan the messy box for a white square. Renjun wasn't able to paint for a while lately because of all of his exams and essays. Screw college. </p><p>Finally, his eyes set on a small canvas. He grabs it along with paint and a couple of brushes. Renjun gets up and sets them all up on his desk. When he was going to get his water cup, a knock is heard on his door. "Come in" he says, grabbing the water cup from his box. Jaemin opens the door slowly. "Hi" </p><p>"Hi" Renjun says back. The taller opens the door fully and walks in. "I uh, have something for you to look at" Renjun tilts his head. Jaemin takes out something from behind him and presents it with two hands like a kid showing off an certificate at an award show. </p><p>It was the book Renjun found earlier when he was in Jaemin's room. </p><p>The elemental psychology book. </p><p>"You don't have to look at it now. I know its a lot to take in, but I would like it if you would look at it once to kind of.. get the ideas of spirits." Jaemin says. He walks over to Renjun's desk. When he sees it's filled with paints and a canvas he turns and puts it on his bed instead. "Training won't be enough" he says with his head down. Renjun doesn't say anything and stares at the book on his bed. Then his eyes shift over to Jaemin. For the first time, the male is bashful and unconfident. Looking at the floor, avoiding eye contact. </p><p>Renjun gives a small smile. </p><p>"Thanks Jaem, I'll make sure to look at it before I go to class tomorrow." </p><p>Jaemin looks up and reciprocates the smile. "Thank you.. for taking the offer." </p><p>"No problem, I'm glad I can help you with catching some elementals."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you were wondering, yes I based off the Jisung Renjun ice scene off a part in Frozen 2.</p><p>If you can guess which scene it was, you get uh...idk a cookie.</p><p>A virtual cookie..cause COVID duh</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Elemental Revival</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>What is the study of Elemental Revival?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>GUYS NCT 2020 GJAKJEKLDF NADF </p><p>I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to add Shotaro or Sungchan into the story since I prewrote almost everything already, but I'll try sneak them into the story as minor characters if I have the chance &gt;.&lt; </p><p>Once again, thank you for making this far into the story! Here marks the beginning of Elemental Spirits part of the story!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kim Doyoung or Dr. Kim is a doctor who specializes in Hearts..</p><p>and Elemental Revival. </p><p>Elemental Revival is reviving a elemental spirit from its pure form into its human one. </p><p>Because elemental spirits, are actually ghosts. </p><p>They are humans who have died in untimely deaths in or due to nature. </p><p>Dying in a fire, drowning, getting crushed by a avalanche.</p><p>Suffocation from a tornado. </p><p>Once the spirit has died, they immediately travel to Neo City. They wander the city, confused, scared, frightened. They had forgotten most of everything in their past lives except for those they had cherished and their way back home. </p><p>Wherever that is. </p><p>They'd do anything to get home. Destroy property, destroy people, destroy lives. </p><p>Why do you think District U is so old and forgotten? So haunted, so zombie like. Renjun has never seen the old buildings of District U, but hearing about them gives him chills. </p><p>Elemental Revival is a difficult field for medical professionals. It requires careful skill and top level psychology to revive a spirit. Therefore, the police cannot do anything when a elemental spirit is loose. They don't know how to control it, nor do any other doctors or psychiatrists.</p><p>Doyoung is the only successful revival doctor. Many others before him had given up or lost their lives to rouge spirits. </p><p>The hospital gave him a space to work in, but because of their doubts they only have given him a forgotten area of the cardiovascular ward. So Doyoung just went ahead and got into cardiovascular too. Kill two birds with one stone is what he will tell you when you ask him. </p><p>Jaemin is Doyoung's assistant. </p><p>He's been catching spirits for Doyoung to revive ever since middle school. It's the reason why he's always out late at night. </p><p>The reason on why Jaemin had accepted Doyoung's request to help him is unknown.</p><p>The reason why he kept it a secret is a bigger mystery. Even Doyoung himself doesn't even know (he questioned Jaemin many times about it, but the boy is very stubborn). </p><p>Their usual revival would go like this: </p><p>First Jaemin would have captured the spirited in a ball, much like Renjun's potion ball but more.. hamster like. </p><p>The ball is spacious for the spirit to move around and is designed to capture it much easily then a potion ball (you hold the two halves of the ball and catch the spirit by clapping the ball around it). It took a while for Jaemin to take a hang of it, but he managed. </p><p>On the way to the hospital, Jaemin would try to calm the spirit down by lulling it to sleep like how he had done in Jeno's car. Once he gets to the hospital, he immediately goes to the closed off area of the cardiovascular ward. </p><p>Once he gives Doyoung the spirit, Doyoung takes it to a containment room. It acts kind of like a hotel for the spirits. The room is filled with rows of clear boxes of spirits. Doyoung goes onto a computer to search for a empty room for the new spirit to go in. Once he finds one, he goes ahead and walks over to it. The door of the room would already be open for Doyoung, so he opens the ball of the spirit and closes it. </p><p>For the next week or so, Doyoung studies the spirit. Looking at its behaviors, how it reacts to certain items. His mission is to find out how the spirit lost its life and what memory will trigger it. </p><p>Triggering it to remember its forgotten past</p><p>Once Doyoung is able to crack the code and the spirit is able to remember its past, he releases it and lets it grow into a human form. </p><p>The human form of this spirit is the same body it once held when it was alive, but different. </p><p>The hair of the human will be a different color. The person will now be able control an elemental.</p><p>They also have to live in Neo City forever. </p><p>Doyoung sends the person to Jaemin who takes them to Professor Qian. Professor Qian's job is to teach the person how to control their powers and how to live in Neo City. </p><p>In comes 6 clueless university students. </p><p>Oh, the look on their faces when Doyoung gave them a explanation.  </p><p>"A-any questions?" he asks with a nervous smile. They all shake their heads, but still carried blank looks on their faces. </p><p>"Can we help?" Renjun asks. </p><p>They all turn to him. </p><p>"You seem pretty busy with your surgeries and all. It must be hard for you and Jaemin to do alone" Doyoung looks at Jaemin and the latter looks at him. "It does seem pretty hard" Mark says. "I can stay back after my shadowing with you if you want" he offers. </p><p>"I want to help too!" Chenle says. </p><p>"Me too! This could be helpful for our spells major right hyung?" Jisung says. "It does seem pretty interesting. I'm in" Donghyuck says. They all turn to Jeno. He silently sits in his chair. He looks at Jaemin and the latter turns to him. They share a silent conversation then look at Doyoung. "I guess I'm in too lol, it seems fun" he says with his eye smile. </p><p>Doyoung gives bright smile. "Thank you guys for offering, but revival is very hard. I need to train you guys for this field or else it will turn out to be a complete disaster" </p><p>"We'll cooperate!" Renjun says. "Just teach us what we need to know." Doyoung blinks and tilts his head. "It's going to be very time consuming." </p><p>"We're doing really well with handling our time" Mark says. "We're able to complete our essays and hang out together without getting TOO much stress. Wouldn't hurt to put something else on our plate." The doctor stares at the group then gives a small smile. </p><p>"Ok then, tell me what you guys are interested in."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm curious, would you guys want to get into elemental spirit revival if you had the chance? It's a STEM and psychology kinda thing with a hint of magic. </p><p>I'd probably wouldn't, I can't do math to save my life lmao. Maybe I would be in the psychology part lolol</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. *insert training montage here*</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Dreamies practice to become a spirit revival assistant.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sup </p><p>Thank you guys once again for coming to read this story! I have need a favor from y'all..</p><p>A couple days ago, the police officers who had killed Breonna Taylor in her home had only been charged for "disturbing her neighbors" rather then killing her. According to UltraViolet.com, 40% of the Louisville city budget goes to funding the Louisville Police Department. Here is a petition to have large businesses like UPS to stop funding the police department. Please sign it and share it with your peers!</p><p>Petition: https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/justiceforbre-breonna-taylor-officers-fired/?t=5&amp;akid=46852%2E9837891%2EWa2KCV</p><p>If you are wondering "Why do we need to take funds from the police?", please read this account from a former police officer: <br/>https://medium.com/@OfcrACab/confessions-of-a-former-bastard-cop-bb14d17bc759</p><p>Once again, thank you for your efforts and let's get to reading content that is lowkey filled with Markhyuck angst :)))</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I'm going to spare you the details of their training. </p><p>Because it is quite repetitive and...</p><p>Boring</p><p>So, here's the gist of what happened:</p><p>.</p><p>Donghyuck, Chenle, and Jisung decided to become researchers. </p><p>To study the behavior patterns of the spirits, put pieces together to reveal their past lives and how they died, and of course to revive them. </p><p>Renjun, Jeno, and Mark decided to help Jaemin and catch spirits along with collecting pieces of a spirit's past life. </p><p>They began training two days later. </p><p>And it was a terrible mess. </p><p>Donghyuck didn't know how to calm a spirit down so he ended up getting attacked by it, Jeno got struck by a lightning spirit at his tail (his snow white tail is now a crispy black), Mark got face planted by said spirit (you never learn your lesson until it happens to you again huh), Chenle and Jisung had to chase a rouge spirit in the hospital, and Renjun was mocked by a wind spirit and ended up being thrown into the air 74 times. </p><p>Doyoung's migraine has never been this huge before. </p><p>"And you wonder why I didn't want them to join the team in the first place." Jaemin says to the doctor, watching Donghyuck and Jeno wrestle a plant spirit that stole a bagel. </p><p>Can spirits even eat bagels? Never mind that's beside the point. </p><p>"You weren't so graceful either Jaemin. I'm sure if we give them time-" </p><p>"JENO I GOT IT!! OW STOP IT YOU VEGETABLE!" </p><p>Doyoung gives out a deep sigh. "If we give them time, they'll be able to handle this with no problem" </p><p>Just then, Renjun walks into the room with a earth spirit in his capsule, suspiciously unscathed. </p><p>"Hi! I got the earth spirit! He was pretty nice so he just climbed in no problem" Renjun smiles. The rocky ghost spins around in a circle and floats down as if it was sitting. "Oh.. that's nice. Where's Mark?" </p><p>"Oh, here's the funny thing. This little wittle sweet guy" Renjun starts cooing at the earth spirit. "likes to make tall rock piles for fun. So when we were walking out, Mark tripped over a pebble and fell into the pile of rocks face first." </p><p>Ah, there's the catch. </p><p>"Wait is he ok?" Donghyuck says. "Yeah, he's recovering in the ER downstairs. He broke his nose on the rocks" Renjun replies. Donghyuck sighs and takes a bite of the bagel. "I swear he doesn't tell me anything" he says to Renjun shaking the bagel at the smaller. "I'll be back doctor!" </p><p>"O-ok! Make sure to stop by a blood vending machine for something he can eat!" Doyoung faces to Renjun and smiles. "Well I'm glad this time it went peacefully" The doctor crouches down to the spirit. The earth spirit, despite not having a head, tilts curiously. Doyoung giggles and takes the capsule from Renjun. "Don't worry little guy, we'll help you" he says softly. "Jeno, can you find a empty space for me?" Jeno nods and runs to the computer. He clicks and taps a few times and a beep is heard further down the rows of containers filled with individual spirits. "Thanks Jen! Go take a five Renjun" Doyoung says and walks down to move the spirit into his new home. </p><p>"How do we never run out of space?" Renjun asks out loud. "This room is actually infinite" Jaemin says, staring at Doyoung walking down the rows of translucent boxes. "It may look pretty small but in reality, the room is a endless hallway of containers so we don't run out." The taller turns. "I'm going to see Mark hyung and get lunch, you guys down?" Renjun and Jeno nod their heads and follow Jaemin out the door. </p><p>.</p><p>"You know what's the scariest thing about this job? I never liked hospital food, but ever since I started eating it on a week basis it became one of my favorite things to eat" Jisung says, staring and poking at his rice. "You like it? It's mushy and bland" Donghyuck says, glaring at his plate. After visiting him, the rest ditched Mark at the ER (gotta give him time to heal) and went to have lunch at the hospital cafeteria (Renjun has counted that this is the 10th time they've gotten lost in the hospital for the past month). Today's special was soybean stew with rice, egg rolls, and kimchee. As for Jaemin and his vampire diet, he sticks with his cherry juice (Renjun gets the feeling that he doesn't like the food either, he's always eating something that isn't the food from the hospital). "It's kinda half half for me, their sandwiches are actually pretty good" Jeno says, eating the last bit of his rice. He stands up and picks up his tray. "I've gotta go now, my class starts pretty soon. See ya!" The rest say bye to Jeno as he returns his plate to the cooks and run out of the doors. A few seconds after, Donghyuck suddenly gasps. </p><p>"Oh my god I'm so stupid, guys Mark hyung's graduating this year!" Instead of getting a reaction like "Oh my god you're right!" or "Our hyung is growing up so fast!", Donghyuck receives one of the most mundane reactions he has ever seen. </p><p>"Ah..  I see" Renjun says. His best friend presses his lips into a thin line. "Guys, this is HUGE he's graduating from college!!" </p><p>"This isn't his last year though! We'll still see him around since he's taking medical school" Chenle says, biting a egg roll. "You guys are idiots, HE'S GETTING HIS FIRST DEGREE! HIS BA?? HE FINISHED HIS STANDARD EIGHTEEN YEARS OF EDUCATION." </p><p>The table is silent. </p><p>"HE'S GETTING A COLLEGE CERTIFICATE" </p><p>Then the table screams in realization. </p><p>"OH MY GOD YOU'RE RIGHT THIS IS THE END OF A MILESTONE!!" Renjun shouts. Their screaming was so loud, that people outside of the empty cafeteria looked at the old building in confusion . "Isn't his graduation in May? It's pretty early to do something" Jaemin asks confused. "We need to plan a party or something." Donghyuck says to Jaemin. "A house party at the dorms! No no, not just party a, a,-" </p><p>"A TRIP TO VANCOUVER!"   </p><p>Jisung spits out his water. Donghyuck manipulates it and throws the water into a nearby trash can. "Ew Sungie, disgusting" he says. He turns to Chenle. "A what now?" </p><p>"A trip to his home! He can see his family AND we'll be there at the same time! Plus we never planned a trip together as a friend group" The group look at each other. "A trip outside of Neo City huh?" Donghyuck says, lacing his fingers together and resting his elbows on the table. "Aren't you guys forgetting something?" They all turn to Jaemin. "Spirits don't just stop appearing out of nowhere when we have breaks. We need to stay back and help Doyoung hyung. We can't ALL go together, someone's gotta stay back." Guilt fills the air as Jaemin finished his sentence. He's right, they agreed to give up their time to revive and help Doyoung. Even when Doyoung warned them multiple times, they still offered to help. </p><p>"Then.. how about Donghyuck and Mark hyung only go?" Donghyuck looks up at Renjun. "W-what?" Renjun tilts his head and smiles. "Didn't you say that you wanted to go somewhere with Mark hyung?" The merman's face reddens and becomes flustered. "Well.. w-what if he's busy? Can't have another summer fight you know." </p><p>"He won't he's graduating, and plus I'm pretty sure he cut his workload down because of that fight" Renjun says. Donghyuck goes quiet and picks at his food. "Are you.. embarrassed?" Jaemin asks with a slight smile. "Not embarrassed just.." He takes a deep breath and lets it go. "You know how it is with.. vampires. Most families are VERY conservative. I've never met Mark's parents yet and I don't know if they know I exist. What if.. they don't want their son to be with a MALE MERman??" </p><p>The atmosphere goes down a bit. Nothing, but the clanking of pots from the kitchen and the cars outside on the road fill the silent cafeteria. </p><p>Suddenly Renjun gets up with his tray. "Wait where are you going?" Donghyuck asks. Renjun doesn't say anything and throws his food away. "Huang??" The latter gives his tray back to the cooks and turns to his friends. "Where do you think I'm going?" Donghyuck gets up and runs over to him. "Pleaseee don't ask him. This whole thing is supposed to be a secret anyway and-" </p><p>"Hyuck you're gonna have to meet them at some point." </p><p>Donghyuck closes his mouth and eyes. When he opens them, Renjun is giving him a sympathetic look. "If you don't want me to ask, then ok I won't. However, you're just going to live with the pain of curiosity and worry for the rest of your relationship" Renjun says sternly. Jaemin gives a low whistle and gets up from the table as well. "I'll go too, hang out with the babies for a while. The spirits are also very helpful when it comes to calming you down so be free to go back up there." The vampire takes one last sip from his pouch and crumples it. He looks at Renjun. "Shall we?" Renjun nods and gives one final look at Donghyuck. The merman doesn't say anything and lets go of a breath he was holding. "Thank you guys, for everything" he says quietly, smiling. Renjun and Jaemin smile back at him and say bye to Jisung and Chenle. They walk out of the cafeteria and to the ER.</p><p>.</p><p>"My parents?" </p><p>Though it's better, Mark's nose was still healing so when he speaks it sounds a bit nasally (Donghyuck teased him earlier by calling him a cuter version of Squidward). </p><p> "Just got curious" Renjun says. He's sitting on a chair next to Mark's bed trying not to accidentally mess up the big machine next to him that's keeping track of Mark's vitals (Renjun doesn't really know why he needs a vital check for a broken nose.. guess its cause it's hard to breathe). "When I first got here, I've heard these rumors of vampire covens, their conservative values, their relations to werewolves, bla bla bla that stuff." Mark makes his mouth into a o and nods. "I see what you're asking. Nah, my family's not like that. We're not that traditional. The neighborhood I grew up in was a small vampire one, but everyone was pretty chill. Actually now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen any covens in my town or even Vancouver before. When I got here, I was actually pretty shocked because of the number of covens laying around. There's even more in Seoul, fun fact." Renjun nods at every word. "Do you think your parents would like Donghyuck?" Jaemin says, staring at Mark's vitals. Renjun makes a face at the taller, but he doesn't notice, putting his focus on studying the machine. "I would hope so" Mark replies back, not questioning anything. "Man, I would love Donghyuck to meet them though. I want him to taste my mom's kimchee stew it's so good. Oh! And if he meets them in Vancouver even better! We can go to all of my favorite places and just have fun you know?" Mark says dreamily. </p><p>Interesting </p><p>.</p><p>"What did he say??" Donghyuck asks after class. "Who are you talking about?" Renjun says, closing his laptop and putting it into his bag. Donghyuck hits Renjun's shoulder making the latter laugh. "Ok, ok! He said his family is really chill and that they're not your classic 1950's vampire clan. The dude never even seen an actual coven until he came to Korea." Donghyuck's eyes light up, but then he lowers his head and bites his lips. "What if they act differently in front of me? We don't know if they like mermaids o-or same sex relationships or-" </p><p>"He wants you to meet them Hyuck." </p><p>The merman looks up. "He does?" Renjun nods and smiles. "He told me he wants you to meet them and that if you met them in Vancouver it'll be better. He wants to take you to all of his favorite places in the city and just wants to have a great time with you." Donghyuck puts his hands on Renjun's shoulders. "Is this true? 100% true??" </p><p>"200% true Hyuck. Ask Jaemin, he's my witness" </p><p>They stand like that for a minute. The classroom was empty. The students and even Professor Qian are not present. The repaired window lets in the final shots of light of the day as the sun gets ready to set to give the moon a chance to shine in the sky. </p><p>Then Donghyuck starts to tear up. "Awee you big baby, let's go to District Dream I'll treat you to ice cream" Renjun laughs. He puts a arm around his best friend and they walk out of the classroom to catch the next bus to District Dream at the bus stop in front of campus. </p><p>.</p><p>It's official, Renjun hates lightning spirits. </p><p>From the day when Mark first got stamped on the face to present day, Renjun has always despised lightning spirits. </p><p>They're so chaotic, more chaotic then wind spirits which is saying something considering that most wind spirits like to either suck up then spray a bunch of people and items through their tornadoes or pick people up and then throw them 10 feet into the air. </p><p>It was going so well. Renjun peacefully caught a earth spirit with no injuries (we're ignoring Mark cause he inflicted the injury to himself), he witness true love with his very own eyes, and might've been the stepping stone to the next milestone in Donghyuck's and Mark's relationship. </p><p>The day was so going great. Too great now that Renjun is thinking about it. He should've suspected something, but he was too occupied. </p><p>Renjun was just enjoying his ice cream with his best friend from a shop that was being run by that nice pegasus girl (her ice cream was so good that she was able to open a brand new store).  The human got vanilla and chocolate chip and the merman got a triple chocolate swirl. They were peacefully licking their ice cream on a bench that sat right outside of the ice cream shop, talking, laughing, generally having a good time. </p><p>Then it happened. </p><p>A neon yellow scraggly thing zipped right past them. </p><p>They froze.</p><p>Then got up and ran after the spirit, almost dropping their ice cream on several people. </p><p>The spirit was slower then a wind spirit but still pretty fast (Renjun spites all of the spirits that are mostly air). It bounces off of street lamps, burning store windows, catching shopper's bags on fire, and left burnt marks on the pavement and walls. </p><p>They didn't expect to go spirit hunting today. Usually Doyoung would tell them that there's a spirit on the loose, so when they go out they're prepared with spirit capsules.</p><p>Renjun's got nothing. He has no capsules, and his last potion bottle is filled with some potion he made with petals from a flower. He throws away his ice cream in a trash can next to him (it was melting onto his hands anyways). "I'll try to find something to trap it with, you try calm it down or something" Renjun says, wiping his hand with a napkin from his pocket. "Oh no, I am calling back up you're calming this thing with me" </p><p>Fair enough. It takes four to do the lightning tango. </p><p>"Back up" (Jaemin and Jeno) came 30 minutes in Renjun's and Donghyuck's attempt to catch the spirit with a fishing net (they were desperate). The good thing was that they manage to chase it onto the beach. It was clear of any pedestrians so they had the freedom to run back and forth without the fear of bumping into someone. </p><p>Well, Renjun bumped into Jaemin when spirit went back into the streets.</p><p>"Nooo, we were so closee" Donghyuck cries out.  "Ok, drop the fish net we got the balls" Jeno says. Donghyuck complies and drops the semi burnt fishing net. Together, the four of them run out to the streets, eyes set for a bright and hot ghost zooming through each nook and cranny. They ended up splitting into two. Donghyuck and Jeno went to search for it near the beach and Renjun and Jaemin went into the inner parts of the town. </p><p>They weren't able to find the spirit itself, but they were able to find burnt marks on the ground. "It's hopping like a bunny!" Renjun exclaims staring at the marks. Renjun and Jaemin follow the charcoal smudges on the pavement. It leads them to the field that separates the town from Cherry Park. </p><p>There it was, a neon yellow spirit was floating above the grass. It faced towards the lowering sun as it gets closer and closer to the horizon. </p><p>Of course, no one can resist a District Dream sunset when they first see it. </p><p>Jaemin gets a capsule out. "I'll go grab it" Jaemin whispers and creeps towards the spirit. Renjun watched as the werewolf gets closer and closer to the lightning. The closer he got, the more Renjun held his breath.</p><p>Then Jaemin got close enough to catch it with one more step. </p><p>Here's the question though: do things ever go their way? </p><p>Jaemin's foot was half way above the ground when he scared a bird on the ground. The spirit snaps out of its trance. "LOOK OUT!" Renjun shouts as he runs to him. The latter pushes Jaemin out of the way to avoid him getting burnt. In the process, Renjun had his bare arm out to shield his face and gets burnt by the spirit. </p><p>"ACK" he screams and he falls to the ground. The spirit stops moving. Jaemin gets up. He quietly helps Renjun up and checks his arm. The burnt mark is not deep, but covers the whole middle of Renjun's forearm. The taller turns to the spirit. "See what you did?" he scolds. The spirit's shape becomes less jagged and more rounded. It sinks a little, and the color becomes less bright. "We're not trying to hurt you, we want to help you" he says in a softer tone. "We know you're confused, and scared. Granted us chasing you with a net wasn't the smartest idea to calm you down, but we're here to help you." The spirit sinks up to Jaemin's eye level. It faces towards Renjun and makes an action that looks like a long bow.</p><p>It was saying sorry.</p><p>"It's ok, do you trust us now?" The spirit goes back up and floats towards the ball in Jaemin's hand. "We'll take care of you, we promise" Jaemin says opening the ball and letting the spirit in. Once he closes it, he turns to Renjun and his burnt forearm. "Let's go take care of that." </p><p>.</p><p>The four were able to take the spirit back to the hospital. Doyoung apologizes to them. "When I got the radar, I was told you guys were already on the run. Sorry for being so late" </p><p>"It's ok doctor! Jaemin and Renjun caught it so it's all good" Jeno says, his eyes shaped like creasants. "Yeah, plus we won't be alerted ALL the time, so we should train our eyes to keep an eye out" Renjun says, hiding his arm. Doyoung notices and takes the capsule from Jaemin. "Donghyuck come with me, I don't think you've seen how we put the spirits in yet" Donghyuck shakes his head. "Yap, never seen it before" A beep is heard from the containers. "Thanks Jaemin! Let's go Donghyuck, on the way we can calm this fella down together." He turns to Renjun. "I want you to get that arm patched up" the ghost says in a strict tone. "First aid kit's in the office" Renjun nods. "Thank you!" he says and walks to the door.</p><p>.</p><p>Jaemin ended up fixing Renjun's arm at the dorm. </p><p>In Renjun's defense, he didn't know how to treat a lightning burn. He thought you treat it like any burn you'd get from a stove or something (cause really, it didn't hurt as much as you think).</p><p>"Lightning burns are permanent so you need to use special medicine" Jaemin explains. First after he took off Renjun's admittedly poorly applied bandages and washed the burn. Then he started to apply alcohol with a cotton ball very gently, like he was cleaning a thin piece of glass. After that, Jaemin took out a pink bottle from their own first aid kit and showed it to Renjun. "This is healing medicine, something you apply if you get burnt or attacked by a magic attack." He opens the bottle and takes another cotton ball. The cotton ball is placed on the opening of the bottle which is flipped upside down for a brief moment so the ball can soak up the liquid. "This might burn" The werewolf starts to swipe the cotton ball among the burn. It did hurt, and it made Renjun wince. "It's ok Junnie you're doing good" Jaemin whispers. When complete, he puts the ball down and proceeds to wrap the arm in new bandages. </p><p>"Please be careful next time" Jaemin says quietly. "Don't jump in danger just to save me" Renjun looks at his roommate. He looks tired and disheveled. It isn't the worst condition Renjun has seen Jaemin in, but it's still pretty bad. "I can't just stand there and watch you get hurt" Renjun whispers back. Jaemin pauses, then continues wrapping. "You must be tired" he says, cleaning up his area. "Let's go to sleep, I'm tired too" Renjun doesn't say anything and watches Jaemin pack everything back into the kit. When he's done they both get up. "Can I brush my teeth first?" Jaemin asks. Renjun nods and watches him go into the bathroom. </p><p>After that he goes and brushes his teeth too. </p><p>Then he goes into his room and falls immediately to sleep. </p><p>.</p><p>
  <i>"I can't stay" the boy says. "I have to go" The other stares at his eyes. They were glossy, still very full of tears. "You're still crying though" the other boy whispers. The first boy puts his hand on the other's face. "It's ok, I'll get better" he says with a small smile.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>They both knew it was a lie.</i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You can call this a filler chapter, I call this a insight on what it looks like to catch spirits. </p><p>Once again please sign the petition and share! Thanks luv! ^^</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. 7. Chenle Has a Elemental?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Chenle finds out he has elemental powers.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! </p><p>Welcome back to the fic! We are finally getting to the main base of our story! Once again, I will like to thank you guys for coming back to read this fic! It means a lot to me that there are a decent amount of people reading this hehe. </p><p>Enjoy this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was around 2:30 in the morning when Renjun found Jaemin slouched against the counter in the kitchen. </p><p>Renjun woke up dehydrated and in the need of water. When he approached the living room, he didn't expect to see the lights still on. "Did I leave them on?" he thinks. The latter walks in to the kitchen. Upon arrival, he sees a mop of pink hair resting on a set of arms in a ball while sitting on the floor with a candy tin next to him. </p><p>"Jaemin?" </p><p>Jaemin flinches. He takes his head out a bit and looks at his roommate. His eyes were bloodshot and swollen. There were dark bags at the bottom of his eyes. </p><p>He was.. crying. </p><p>"Jaemin?" Renjun asks again more panicked. He sits next to the werewolf. Jaemin quickly hides his head back into his arms and squeezes himself more tightly making himself seem more tinier. Slowly, Renjun brings a hand out. He ever so softly starts to stroke Jaemin's cotton candy colored hair. "It's ok you can tell me what happened" he whispers. Renjun stops petting and cradles him. They don't say anything for the next 5 minutes. Dead silence fills the air. No cars on the road outside or any creaks of the floorboards were able to interrupt the absence of sound. </p><p>"Let's go to bed" Renjun finally says. Jaemin gives back a small nod, but no words. Renjun helps the werewolf up and picks up the candy tin on the floor. He puts the sweets on the counter and turns off the light, forgetting his goal of getting water. He takes Jaemin to the latter's room. When he was about to leave the room Jaemin grabs his sleeve. </p><p>"D-don't leave" he sputters out quietly. Renjun freezes. Jaemin doesn't make eye contact and only looks down at the floor. "Ok" Renjun says back. He gets into the bed next to him. The werewolf doesn't close his eyes. His eyes are dead set on Renjun's bandaged arm and nothing else. Renjun notices and gives a sad smile. "I'm fine Jaemin, thanks to you" he says lightly. It doesn't appease Jaemin though, his eyes still glued on the white cloth wrapping Renjun's forearm. The latter grabs a blanket and covers them both. He snuggles closer to Jaemin, startling him a bit. He grabs the werewolf's hand and squeezes it. Eventually, Jaemin's eyes flutter shut, Renjun's following soon after. They both sleep soundly, holding hands tightly fearing that they will be separated. </p><p>.</p><p>
  <i>The forest was big. It loomed over him with its tall trees that covered the sunny sky. The leaves crunch under his shoes as he walks. "Where could he be hiding?" he thinks, looking for the other.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"Injun!"</i>
</p><p>
  <i>He turns and sees the boy running up to him with a big smile. "Injun! Let's play!"</i>
</p><p>.</p><p>"Excuse me? Could you help me with finding a book?" </p><p>"Sure!" Renjun says. He puts down a book he was sorting and climbs down the ladder. "What can I help you wi-" </p><p>The person who asked for help smiles gently at Renjun. "Oh! I need help finding this book" he says, scrolling through his phone. He shows Renjun a picture of a book and with its title. Knowing where that book was, Renjun nods and leads the way to another shelf. "This book is always hiding somewhere" he says. "It's a popular novel so many students misplace it." Renjun spots the spine immediately and takes it out from the shelf. "Here let me check this out for you" he says with a smile. The student makes a surprised face and returns the smile. "Thank you!" he says. They both walk to the front. Renjun scans the bar code on the book. "Do you have a student ID?" he asks. The student nods and fumbles with his pockets. "Ah here it is!" He takes out a wallet and shows an ID snuggled behind a plastic cover. </p><p>Xiao Dejun </p><p>1999. 08. 08 </p><p>Elementals Spell Major </p><p>Renjun scans the ID card and stamps the book. "Are you from China too?" Renjun asks handing the book and ID card over. Dejun's eyes lights up as he nods. "Yup! I'm from Guangdong. How about you?" </p><p>"I'm from Jilin" Renjun smiles back. "Oh that's cool!" Dejun says back. "When did you move here?" </p><p>"Ah I moved hmmm.. three years ago?" </p><p>"Ohhh, I just moved hehe" </p><p>Renjun nods, giving Dejun a soft smile. "I'm Huang Renjun by the way" he says giving a hand. "Xiao Dejun, well you already know that since you had to scan my ID" Dejun laughs, accepting Renjun's offer to shake hands. "Do you have any tips for living here? I have a hard time adjusting" the older says sheepishly. "I'd say go to District V when you're homesick" Renjun says, not missing how Dejun's face falls for a bit when he said "home."  "It comforts you in a way I can't explain. If you want I can take you there. I know a great boba place we can snack at" Renjun says. Dejun nods. "Oh that'll be wonderful!" He looks at his watch. "Oh! Gotta get to class! See ya Renjun!" Dejun says and runs off. As he runs to the Magic Hall, he accidentally bumps into Donghyuck. "Oh sorry!" Donghyuck says. "No, no it's my fault! Have a nice day!" he says and runs off. "You too!" Donghyuck walks up to Renjun as he walks back to the shelf he was sorting. </p><p>"So..." Donghyuck starts. </p><p>"That's what a revived spirit looks like huh?" </p><p>"Yup" Renjun replies back, switching a book with another. </p><p>"You wanna get churros?" </p><p>.</p><p>Yes, that was Renjun's and Donghyuck's first time seeing a revived spirit and Renjun's surprised that he hasn't seen one before. </p><p>At first glance a revived spirit looks like any other person Renjun has ever seen. </p><p>But upon closer inspection, the person's hair is literally covered in what ever elemental it represents.</p><p>Dejun happened to be a water spirit. His hair was dark blue and bubbles hung at the tips of his hair, making it look like he just came out from a bath. </p><p>"I saw one coming out of the Magic Hall after my class ended" Jeno says. Him, Renjun, Donghyuck, and Chenle were walking through the lobby of the hospital to the elevator. "Her hair was bright yellow and had sparks coming out of it" he says, making his hands look like lightening bolts coming out of his hair. Renjun takes a bite from his churro and presses a elevator button. "Isn't weird we haven't seen them before though?" he asks. Jeno shrugs. "Not really, I guess we weren't really paying attention before so we didn't really see them walking around campus." The door to the elevator opens. The boys walk in with doctors and visitors. They weren't squished like in the elevator at the mall. This elevator is wide and long, built to accommodate a hospital bed when necessary. </p><p>"You ok Chenle? You look dead." Donghyuck says, munching on his churro. Chenle sighs and rubs his eyes. "My darn cousin came to visit from Beijing." </p><p>"The mean one, the sassy one, or the one who keeps bragging about his business in Taipei?" Renjun asks. "I wish it was the one with the business in Taipei, at least he gives me gifts." Chenle says, using a tone that doesn't suit his normal bubbly persona. "It's the nagging one" </p><p>"Oof" his friends winces. Chenle nods. "Oof indeed, she is the epitome of annoying. "You have to become a doctor! Study harder! Stop slacking off!" Like can you shut up??" The elevator dings. The doors open, letting the boys out onto the floor. "You're only 27 years old why are you acting like a 55 old year old mom named Karen who has 3 kids and wants to speak to the manager because the store doesn't have whole wheat??" </p><p>"Zhong Chenle!" </p><p>Chenle freezes. He cringes and balls his hands into a fist. "Speaking of the devil" Donghyuck says, eating what was left of his cinnamon pastry stick. A skinny woman walks up to the boys. She's wearing an expensive dress with heels that look like they could break her ankles by walking only a cementer. Her hair was permed which neatly sat on top of her shoulder, complementing her white skin.  Renjun thinks that this lady is more pale then Doyoung, and the latter is a literal ghost. </p><p>"J-jiejie! What are you doing here?" Chenle asks in a strained tone. The lady straightens her outfit then puts her faint hands on her hips. "I've made an appointment for you with Dr. Kim! I told you this many many times!" she says back in Chinese. The lady takes her eyes off of her cousin and on to the three boys next to him. "Who are these people? Why are they here?" she asks in a snappy tone. "Ah, Ms. Zhong we're Chenle's friends." Renjun says in Chinese. "My name is Huang Renjun. That's Lee Do-" </p><p>"I don't care! Why are you people here! I specifically told Lele not to bring his friends to family matters!" </p><p>"Well you see, we came here to do a job with Dr. Kim. We're his assistants." Renjun says. Chenle's cousin raises her thin eye brow. "Assistants? Since when did Dr. Kim-" Her eyes enlarge into big circles upon realization, then her head whips towards Chenle. "Does jiuma know you're working with spirits???" she shouts, scaring everyone in the hall. Chenle, who by now is becoming tired and a bit embarrassed, gives a fake laugh and starts power walking to Dr. Kim's office. "You said I had an appointment! Let's go jiejie!" he says before blasting into the office. </p><p>.</p><p>"What are they saying?"</p><p>"I don't know her accent is pretty strong!" </p><p>"Ow Jisung that hurts!" </p><p>"What are you guys doing?" Renjun, Donghyuck, and Jeno came into the lab after Chenle had practically ran away from his cousin (they waited for a bit before going in because they didn't want to walk in with a scary lady). When they got to the office, they found Jisung, Mark, and Jaemin with their ears glued to the door of Doyoung's office. "Who was that vampire lady that went in with Chenle?" Mark whispers, pointing a thumb at the door. "She's Chenle's cousin, apparently she booked an appointment with Dr. Kim" Jeno says. "Chenle's cousin? Wait, so that white lady is not a ghost but a leprechaun!??!"  Jisung whisper shouts. His hyungs shush him in unison in fear of anyone on the other side of that door hearing their conversation. "It's just make up, you know how beauty standards are, all make up stores here just sells white foundation" Donghyuck whispers while he tries to get a listen. </p><p>They all camp in front of the door like they were waiting for the newest release of an NCT album, before they hear a loud "WHAT??" from the other side. The boys all get up and away from the door before Chenle comes out, bursting out of the office. "Wait Chenle!" Doyoung yells, but to no avail. The brown head walks away and out to the of the area. Chenle's cousin comes out, visibly distressed. A ringtone sounds from the inside of her purse. She starts digging around from her purse before finding it and groaning from the caller ID. "Hello?" she says in Chinese before walking off out of the room. </p><p>"Let's go after him!" Jisung says. The others nod their heads and join Jisung in running off to find their friend. When they do find him, they are in the hospital's cafeteria. Chenle is found sitting at their usual table with a melting ice cream cup sitting in front of him, dumbfounded. "Chenle!" Jisung yells. Chenle snaps out of his trance and looks up to Jisung and the others running towards him. "What happened back there?" Donghyuck asks. </p><p>Chenle gets flustered. He murmurs something, looking down at his fingers. "We can't hear you bud speak up" Renjun says. The younger sighs and looks up at his friends. </p><p>"I have an elemental power." </p><p>.</p><p>The boys didn't yell or scream in surprise like usual. </p><p>In fact they didn't really believe in Chenle.</p><p>"Oh come on, since when did leprechauns have elementals" Donghyuck says. "It's true!" Chenle says slurping his melted ice cream (which Jisung kindly froze after). "Dr. Kim said that some leprechaun families have elemental powers and that my family happens to be one of them." </p><p>"Well why didn't you know until know?" Renjun asks. "That's what I asked too. Apparently my elemental is a coming of age thing. My cousin made a appointment because she wanted to know why it hadn't sprung up yet since all of my other cousins got their elemental in high school." Jisung scoops a piece of ice cream from Chenle's cup with his spoon. "You are a late bloomer dude" he says with ice cream in his mouth. "But my cousin who was born on DECEMBER 31ST got hers before mine!" Chenle pouts. "What if I'm the only person in my family who won't get an elemental?" the leprechaun asks worryingly. "My parents would be so upset." </p><p>"Awe don't say that Chenle" Renjun says. "Your parents love you with all of their heart and you know that" he says, combing through Chenle's dry locks. "Yeah, but all of my cousins are so impressive compared to me. You guys saw Feihong, she's a successful fashion designer and she was able to make her business big at such a young age." Renjun crosses his arms and furrows his eyebrows. "Well she's not you. You are an exceptional being Chenle. No matter what you do, everyone in your life will still love you." Chenle looks up from his ice cream. "He's right Le, I'd rather be best of friends with you then a snarky and high nosed fashion designer" Jisung smiles. "We will always take your side Chenle, always" Jeno says after, giving a soft smile. "Thanks guys" the younger whispers. He gives his friends a bright smile as another thank you and his friends smile back. "Now, let's go get some actual good ice cream and none of this manufactured crap" Donghyuck says. "What about Doyoung hyung?" Chenle asks, concerned for the doctor. "He texted us to take you somewhere that isn't the lab" Jaemin replies. He walks over to Chenle and takes the discarded ice cream cup. "Come on let's go!" </p><p>.</p><p>A few days later, the boys ended up helping Chenle in finding his elemental. </p><p>Even after that talk of not being a failure, Chenle still wanted to find out if he actually has a elemental or not. Of course, his friends couldn't say no to his cute face, who would?</p><p>"Ok first we'll go talk to Doyoung hyung and Professor Qian" Renjun says putting a lightening spirit back into its container. "They should have some knowledge of how to use your elemental" Chenle nods. The older locks the container and says bye to the spirit. "We gotta wait though, Doyoung hyung is in surgery." he says walking over to a table. His younger friend follows his action and takes a seat at the said table. </p><p>"So... gege" </p><p>"Hm?" Renjun hums. He was already too immersed in his essay, typing away the keys of his laptop. </p><p>"What's the deal with you and Jaemin hyung?" </p><p>Renjun stops typing and looks up from the screen. "What are you talking about?" Chenle gives a raised eye brow and a smirk. "There's nothing going on between you two?" Renjun shakes his head, turning a little red. From the outside, a beep is heard along with doors opening. "L-look hyung must be back from the surgery!" Renjun says, slamming his laptop. He quickly rushes to the door. "Come on you brat!" he shouts and goes out of the room. Chenle chuckles and shakes his head before following his gege out the room. </p><p>.</p><p>Upon coming into his office, Doyoung started combing through his bookshelf. "Hi guys! I knew you would ask me for some help so I'm looking for some books for you to look at." One by one, he starts to grab books of different size and color and tries to stack them all in his arms. "Here we can carry those!" Renjun says, him and Chenle rushing to the doctor. "Ah thanks. Sorry, I'm pretty busy today so I can't help you guys." Doyoung grabs a clipboard on his desk and his phone. "I'm gonna call Kun so go ahead and head over to his classroom and study over there. He can help you if you have any questions" he says. Doyoung quickly dials Professor Qian to let him know about Renjun and Chenle then quickly throws his phone onto his desk. "Thank you doctor!" Chenle yells. Doyoung waves a good bye and quickly runs out of the lab to the main room of the ward. Chenle shifts the books in his arms and smiles. "Let's go!"</p><p>.</p><p>They spent 2 hours with Professor Qian and Dejun on finding out a solution to Chenle's missing elemental. </p><p>Alas, nothing comes up. </p><p>"What elemental are you supposed to have?" Dejun asks, sipping on a juice carton Professor Qian gave him earlier. "Earth" Chenle says. His voice was weak and on the brink of crying from frustration. "I don't get it! For sure these exercises would work!" Renjun says, equally as stressed as his friend. Professor closes his laptop and sighs. "Coming of age powers can't come out by force. We're just going to have to give it time Chenle." The leprechaun shakes his head and runs up to the professor's podium. "No, no I have been waiting long enough! Sure this is the first time I ever HEARD about my family having an elemental, but I need to find it!" Professor Qian gives a tired smile and ruffles Chenle's hair. "Chenle, you must give it time. Forcing it out of you will just make things more stressful for you." </p><p>"Maybe the reason why your family hasn't told you about your elemental is tied to why it hasn't come up yet" Dejun says. Chenle's eyes widen and turns to Renjun. "So.. does that mean.. I'm powerless?" </p><p>"That's impossible" Professor Qian says, grabbing the attention of the three boys in the room. "Coming of age powers run in family blood. There is never a case where a power skips a generation so you don't have to worry." Professor Qian gets up from his chair and brings out his white board. "Though, what Dejun said makes sense. Elemental powers are tied to your psychological thoughts. Maybe the reason your powers haven't surfaced is because you didn't even know about them." </p><p>"Why would his parents keep that as a secret from him though?" Renjun asks out loud. Professor Qian shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know. That's for Mr. and Mrs. Zhong to know and for Chenle to find out." </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun came back to the dorm at around 9pm (Jaemin would kill him if he's out later then 10). Now that he knows why Jaemin would disappear, he expected the latter to be laying around the house eating something or doing homework. </p><p>He wasn't doing anything of that, and that made Renjun confused. </p><p>"Jaem? You home?" the human yells in the empty living room. The kitchen and living room lights were on so Jaemin must be home. Otherwise Renjun's gonna have to have a talk with his roommate about wasting electricity and paying more for the bill. </p><p>"Pup? Hellooo?" Renjun goes into the kitchen. The stove was empty and the sink was clean. He looks at the counter and spots the candy tin he found Jaemin with the other night. "He won't mind if I take one right?" he thinks. Quietly, he opens the little tin open. Colorful sweet candy pieces welcome him with their bright colors of yellow, pink, green, and blue. Renjun looks at the tin cover and gasps. "Oh! I never had this candy since I was 5!" he whispers in Chinese. The familiar mascot greets him with a big smile on the cover. "Rainbow Power Candy - Hard Fruity Candy since 1955" the lid reads. Renjun smiles and pops a yellow piece into his mouth. "Ah, tastes like childhood" he thinks. He puts his hands on his hips and furrows his eyebrows. "Now, where is that pup?" </p><p>Right after that thought, a thump is heard from Jaemin's room. Renjun takes careful steps to the werewolf's room. He softly knocks on the door. "Jaemin? You in there?" he asks. There was silence from the other side then a few footsteps. The door opens a crack, only revealing Jaemin's eye. "Yes? What do you want?" he asks in a snappish tone. "I uh, just wanted to know what you were doing." Renjun answers quietly. Jaemin stares at his roommate for a few seconds then opens the door fully. "I forgot you're Doyoung hyung's assistant now. Help me" he says. Renjun gulps. He walks into the room and closes the door as gently as he can. His eyes fly to Jaemin's pink hair staring at a white board on his desk. "What is that?" Renjun asks. </p><p>"Doyoung hyung told me there's a Earth spirit somewhere here, but he couldn't track it down." He stops tapping a marker on his chin and turns to Renjun. "He didn't tell you?" Jaemin asks in a confused tone. Renjun shakes his head. The werewolf raises a eyebrow and turns back to the board. "Weird, maybe you aren't ready for spirit hunting yet." </p><p>"Wait we weren't spirit hunting?" Renjun asks. Jaemin eyes Renjun and thins his lips. "Well you guys are, but you know where the location of these spirits are. I call that "spirit chasing."  "Spirit hunting" is when you don't know where the spirit is and you have to figure out where it is. Hyung told me at certain point that I "am ready for harder obstacles" and gave me assignments to chase down." Jaemin writes something on the board and takes down a pin. "I'm guessing in Doyoung hyung's mind you guys aren't ready to hunt yet." </p><p>Renjun stays quiet. Not because he's offended that Doyoung doesn't think him and the rest of the group aren't ready yet, cause that's certainly a fact, but because it makes sense. That was the reason why Jaemin was usually so stressed before he became Doyoung's assistant. Why he randomly left that night at the grocery store and why he would usually lock himself in his room for the rest of the night. </p><p>"Well I want to help you. Sure I many not be at the same level as you, but you shouldn't be doing this all by yourself" Renjun says. He picks up a book titled Neo City Roads and Bridges and starts flipping through the pages for a general map. Jaemin smiles, but doesn't show Renjun. "Thank you Jun. I'll try to help you as much as you are helping me when you're stressed out." Renjun looks up from the book and tilts his head. "You already are though" he says and goes back to looking at the book. Jaemin stops playing with the marker in his hand. "Where did you last leave off of?" Renjun asks. The werewolf doesn't say anything and looks at the other. Renjun was too busy looking at the book, he didn't notice Jaemin staring at him. "The Earth spirit was last seen in District 127 at Cherry Park" he finally says. "I tried searching through the park but to no avail." </p><p>"Can I take this book to the library tomorrow and make a few copies of the map?" Renjun asks. Jaemin nods. "Yes, please that will be super helpful." The shorter puts down the book and looks at the white board. It was small and crowded with pictures, lines, and questions Jaemin had put up earlier. "What's this?" he asks. Renjun points to a picture of a card discarded in the grass of the park. "Oh I have that" Jaemin says. He opens a drawer in his desk and opens a pink plastic box. All that was in it was a card, a ring, and a piece of cloth. "I found these in the park this morning" he explains. Renjun takes out the card that was pictured on the board. It was a business card written out in Chinese, though the card was weathered so the lettering is faint. "I can't make out the words, but I can ask Chenle if he recognizes the card" he says. "He's familiar with businesses in China so hopefully he knows what this could be." Jaemin nods and yawns. He stretches his arms up then groans. "I'm going to take a break and do some homework" he says. "That's a strange break time activity" Renjun jokes. He watches Jaemin look through his backpack on his bed for his notebook. "I don't want to do it, but I don't want to fail either" he answers. Renjun laughs and looks back at the card. </p><p>What could this be?</p><p>.</p><p>The next day, Renjun brings the card with him to the lab so he can ask Chenle what business the card belongs to. </p><p>Though, he couldn't because Chenle busted into the lab, enraged. </p><p>"I HATE MY FAMILY" he shouts, throwing his bag onto the table. "Woah, woah slow your roll buddy" Mark says, voice laced with concern. "Gege! Guess what! They DID have a reason for keeping my power as secret! And that reason is so utterly stupid!" he yells. Jisung puts a spirit back into its container and walks over to his best friend. "What happened?" he asks. He takes a seat at the table. Chenle crosses his arms over his chest. "So I come home and ask my parents about my powers right?" he starts, grabbing his friend's attention as they come sit at the table. "They ask me "how do you know about that?" and I tell them "Jiejie set an appointment up for me with Dr. Kim about my powers and why they didn't show up yet" and they go BALLISTIC at Feihong" Chenle sighs then goes back to ranting. "I asked them again "Why aren't my powers showing up? Why did you never tell me?" and you what they said? "Well because we didn't think you could handle it"'</p><p>"WHAT?" his friends say in unison. Now they are all equally as pissed as Chenle. "I know right? I asked what's that supposed to mean and they said "Well you see, you are much more weaker then your brother and cousins. We don't want you to get hurt so we didn't tell you about it." So of course I went ballistic saying that I am not weaker then them and that if I was given the chance to get stronger I can! It's like the tutoring thing all over again." </p><p>Renjun makes a confused noise. "Oh I forgot you were new gege. My parents have this thing where they're over protective to the point they keep me away from anything relatively supernatural. I wouldn't have come to Neo City if it weren't for my older brother convincing my parents to let me go to school here." Chenle takes a pause and drinks some water. "I went to tutoring on my own will" he continues. "I wanted to get stronger, I wanted to take the chance to become something bigger then what is expected from me. So, I took lessons without my mom and dad's permission. My brother paid for everything." Renjun nods slowly. "That's why they never came to your exams?" he asks. Chenle sighs and nods. "Yup. They want me to work as a human in the human world cause they think I can't do the things the rest of my family does, but I don't want to work at a boring desk job in Seoul. I want to work with the supernatural. I want to stay in Neo City!" </p><p>"You wouldn't be this pissed if it was just that comment though" Jisung says. Chenle nods. "It's because that isn't the only thing that's pissing me off. Jiejie told my parents about this assistant thing! She snitches on me on everything ever since I was a little kid! They got angry cause like I said, they don't want me near supernatural stuff, and I got angry because this one of the only jobs I actually enjoy. They prohibited me from doing this job so I ran away and went to my brother's house in District V." </p><p>"Geez that's a long ass bus ride" Donghyuck says painfully. "It wasn't that bad. I'm so thankful for my brother. When I get older, I'm going to repay him as much as I can" Chenle says. He sighs for the third time and slaps his lap. "So what are we doing today?" The group stays silent. Their friend just ranted to them about his lifelong problem and now he's acting like it's no big deal. "Are you ok Chenle?" Jeno asks carefully. Chenle's smile falters a bit. "Yeah, I guess I don't know." Jaemin gets up from his chair. He puts a hand on the Chenle's shoulder. "If you need anything, just tell us we'll be there" he says with a serious tone. The younger gives him a genuine smile. "Thank you hyung, thank you all. I just needed to rant, I'm good now." </p><p>"He's lying" Jisung says, narrowing his eyes at his best friend. </p><p>"Yeah I am, can I have a hug?" The rest get up immediately and squish Chenle as tight as they can with their arms of love. </p><p>"We love you Chenle!" Renjun says. </p><p>Chenle giggles and lays his head on an arm (he didn't know who). "Thank you guys, for everything" </p><p>"Hey, that's what friends are for" Mark says. </p><p>They stay like that until Chenle is good to start the day, fresh and bright. </p><p>.</p><p>Later at campus when Chenle was in a better mood, Renjun takes the chance to show him the card. "Hmm, I don't know it's hard to read" he says. The younger squints at the card looking for any familiar logos or words that could ring a bell. "Dejun ge, do you see anything?" Dejun takes the card and scans it. "Nope, it's unreadable. Why do you need it Renjun?" he asks. "This is a clue to find a missing Earth spirit" he says. "A missing Earth spirit? Doyoung hyung never said anything about that!" Chenle exclaims. "I'm sure he was just busy" Renjun says. He didn't want to tell Chenle that Doyoung thinks they need more training. It would make the younger upset and remind him about his conflict last night. </p><p>"Can I see the card again?" Chenle asks. Dejun hands the younger the card. Chenle takes another look at the card more closely, scanning the fainted letters and the erased logo on the white piece of paper. "Wait" he says. Renjun's eyes widen. Chenle takes out his phone and starts to type something. When he got what he wanted he looks up at Renjun and brightens. "This is jiejie's business card!" Renjun takes a look at Chenle's phone. A picture of a bright fashion logo with Chinese character letters next to it shine bright on the screen. He looks back and compares the colorful image with the dull card. "It.. really does look similar!" Renjun exclaims. He high fives Chenle and Dejun for the victory they had just accomplished. "Are you going to find out more about that card? Can I come with you?" he asks. Renjun nods. Surely Jaemin wouldn't mind of Chenle came along. "Sure thing! Dejun ge you wanna come?" Dejun shakes his head. "Sorry, I gotta help Kun ge with his class today." Renjun snaps his fingers. "That's right, you're our new TA! Well see you in class gege!" he says running to the library with Chenle. "Good luck!" Dejun shouts back. </p><p>.</p><p>Jaemin and Renjun figured, if Chenle is gonna help why not invite the whole gang to track this spirit down. </p><p>So they did, the gang accepted the invite. </p><p>Now they are currently ripping their hairs out. </p><p>"You would think that a Earth spirit would leave like freaking rocks as a trail or something" Jeno says, exasperated. Jaemin couldn't find more evidence in the park, so all they could work with was the ring, piece of cloth, and Feihong's business card. </p><p>Renjun takes the cloth from the table and examines it. Then he realizes something. "Chenle" he says. The younger stops flipping through the navigation book. "Hm?" he hums. Renjun rearranges the pieces of evidence in a line. "Did.. Feihong ever have a fiance or something?" The group looks up from their books and computers. "Oh my god we're so stupid! How come we never thought of that??" Donghyuck groans. "Wait, why does that make sense?" Mark asks. His boyfriend turns to him and points to the evidence on the table. "There's cloth and business card from Chenle's cousin, and a whole ass RING. They could've been engaged!" </p><p>"Ok wait we're not sure if the cloth is from Feihong's business yet and plus we're not on the reviving step yet. We need to find where this spirit went" Jaemin says. The group groans. Renjun is starting to think they really are not ready for this type of hunting after all. "Well, Feihong did have a fiance." They all turn to Chenle simultaneously. "I think his name was Minsheng or something. I remember he was the big gossip of our family for months." </p><p>"Why was he so popular within your family? Was he a millionaire or something?" Jeno asks. "Actually no, he wasn't. He was a lower middle class guy whose family owned a tiny restaurant in the outskirts of the city." </p><p>"Was he human?" Renjun asks. Chenle snaps his finger. "He was!" The group went into shocked silence. Their eyes widen and their mouths hung open. "Have you.. ever heard about him?" Jaemin asks carefully. Chenle thinks then he shakes his head. "Last time I've heard about him was last year around the time jiejie introduced him at a dinner. News flew quick to my family and my mom wouldn't stop talking about it with her sister over the phone." </p><p>"You don't think he.. you know.." Donghyuck starts. "Right now it's a theory" Mark finishes. "We need to find this spirit, but what can we do with these?" he asks, poking the ring. "We need to ask some people around the city" Jaemin says. He grabs one of the maps Renjun printed out earlier and starts to mark up the District V area. "Feihong's franchise has a store in District V right? Well let's go ask around that area if they've seen a E-" Jaemin looks up at Chenle. The younger was starting to look uncomfortable. "O-or if you want to that is. We can go search if you want to if that's ok with you." The room falls silent upon Jaemin's request. Chenle's face goes from uncomfortable to determined in a matter of seconds. "No, I need to face my family at some point. So what if jiejie sees me walking around the district working with something I'm not supposed to?" He takes the map from Jaemin's hands and stands up. "Tomorrow we ride or die boys!" he shouts and walks out of the dorm. </p><p>"I-I wasn't even done with that yet-"</p><p>"Give him a minute" </p><p>"..."</p><p>"WAIT I LEFT MY PHONE IN THERE LET ME BACK IN!!"    </p><p>.</p><p>Doyoung had allowed them to go spirit hunting together, but told them if a spirit were to come on radar they have to drop everything and catch that one first. </p><p>"Thank goodness it's not just Jaemin now" he says over the phone. "He was going crazy when I told him there was a spirit on radar every 20 minutes." The group laughs heartily in the car. It was Saturday so thank goodness they didn't have class (well Jisung had an essay he needs to finish so he's currently trying to type it out in the car). "Hyung what significance did Moon Heejun have again?" </p><p>"He founded District 127 with four other guys that I don't remember" Mark says.</p><p>"Thank you hyung that was very helpful."  </p><p>"Was that sarcasm or was that actually genuine?" </p><p>Jisung looks up from his computer and thinks. "I actually don't know" he confesses. </p><p>"Geez you guys give me a headache sometimes" Doyoung says. "Well good luck on your hunt guys! If you need anything just ring me or Kun up ok?" They all say their good byes and hang up the phone. "Here we are District V!" Jeno exclaims. "Ok you guys got your maps?" Mark asks. The group takes out their own pieces of paper and a marker. Jeno finds a parking space in a lot near the entrance of the district. "Ok, we're ready, any advice Jaemin?" </p><p>"Just try find this spirit. Also if you find more evidence that'll be great" he says. "Ok let's do this!" Donghyuck yells. The group scramble out of the car and head straight into the town. Eyes set for the rocky ghost. </p><p>.</p><p>"No, I haven't seen one sorry." </p><p>"Ok, thank you for your time!" </p><p>Renjun marks off another spot Jaemin marked on the map. He looks across the road at Feihong's department store. "It'll be much more easier if we'd just ask the employees there" he thinks. Chenle had warned them that the employees there would only serve customers that for sure will buy something. It was better not to ask them, because they wouldn't respond to a broke college student.</p><p>But, it was worth the shot. </p><p>Renjun sucks up a breath and lets it go. He opens the door of the store and is blasted by AC. The store was elegant. Smooth tile floors, stairs leading up to a second floor. A chandelier hung from the ceiling and brighten the store. Mannequins pose to show off the latest design of Hwa Designs. "Hello sir, may I help you with something?" Renjun turns and is met with a young man a little older then he was in a suit. His face wore an displeased expression upon looking at the human. "H-hello, may I have a moment of your time?" </p><p>"Sir, I only serve the consumers of this store. If you are not going to buy something or at least look around I will need you to leave." </p><p>Ok, harsh. </p><p>"Well that is very rude. Do you treat everyone like that or is it only because I asked a simple question?" Renjun asks mustering his sternest tone. "Sir are you going to buy something or not? You certainly do not look like you can afford anything in here."</p><p>That's a given fact, but he didn't have to slam it into his face like that. </p><p>"Can't I just ask you a simple question?" Renjun pleads. He gives up his hard facade. The worker clearly won the battle. "Sir, please leave before I call security." </p><p>"You have security in a department store?" Renjun asks. The young man raises his eyebrows. "Uh yeah? Clearly if the items are expensive enough the store needs a security guard to prevent theft. Any person with common sense will know that!" </p><p>"Are you a guard?" </p><p>"No, I am a employee." </p><p>"Then why were you hanging around the door? Do you want to leave or something?" </p><p>"SECURITY!!" Renjun's eyes widen and he starts to panic. "Wait! Have you seen an Earth spirit around here?" </p><p>"No, JUNHEE WHERE'S THAT GUARD?!?!" </p><p>"Then what about the whereabouts of Feihong's fiance?" The worker turns to Renjun with a shocked expression on his face. "How do you know about him? Only family knows about Minsheng!" </p><p>Bingo</p><p>"I'll leave peacefully if you answer a few questions about this dude. If not, then I'm going to go complain online and say that the workers in this store are rude, which by the way is a fact considering you judged my looks and assumed I'm not a loyal customer." </p><p>The worker crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow. "Well are you?" Renjun freezes and starts to fiddle with his fingers. "Well.. no, but do you do that with everyone who walks in here?" It was the worker's turn to freeze. He slowly raises his hands and slowly claps. "Well played little dude, well played. Now tell me how you know about Feihong's fiance and I'll tell you what happened to him." He gestures his hands to the back room of the store. Renjun nods and walks to the direction he is pointing before the worker turns the sign from open to closed. </p><p>.</p><p>"Minsheng was indeed the talk of the family."</p><p>Lijun, Feihong's younger brother and Chenle's other cousin had sat Renjun down at a table in the store's break room. After Renjun had told Lijun what he knew, Lijun returned the favor by telling the story of Minsheng. </p><p>"My parents were very furious. They've raised jiejie like a rich princess all of her life and even funded her education and business. Marrying a human was like stabbing them in the back like a hundred times." he says. "Why do they not want her to marry a human?" Lijun raises an eyebrow and takes a sip of his own tea, then makes a face of understatement right after. "You must be that human friend Chenle was talking about correct?" </p><p>Renjun nodded, a bit surprised that Chenle had talked about him to his cousin. "Here's a crash course on traditional non human families. They hate humans, hated them ever since the first non human have ever interacted with one. To them, marrying a human is like marrying a forbidden fruit. It quote on quote "breaks the family blood line." Usually you'd see vampires or werewolves behave like this, but there are other types-" Lijun gestures to himself. "like leprechauns that also follow this code." He puts his cup on the table and sighs. "It's really stupid. I can see why Chenle is staying with his brother for the time being. It's suffocating" </p><p>"Y-you know that Chenle's staying with his brother? Does anyone else in your family know?" Renjun panics. Lijun's eyes widens and his quickly waves his hands. "Oh no no, don't worry I would never rat on him. Chenle and his brother are like siblings to me! I was actually planning to visit Chenle to bring him his lunch during my break since he doesn't like the food at the hospital." </p><p>That was enough for Renjun to confirm. His friend's hated for the hospital food is an inside joke within their friend group. His shoulders relax. "So.. what happened to Minsheng?" </p><p>"He died" </p><p>Renjun freezes. His heart starts to beat faster and his eyes widen. "We don't know how he died, but we know he passed away" Lijun says. "Do you think... he died due to natural causes?" Lijun shakes his head. "No way, the dude was very healthy. He worked out too!" Renjun furrows his eyebrows. "Where was he last seen?" Lijun starts to tap his fingers on his cup as he starts to recall to the past. Then he stops and makes eye contact with the younger. "You mention him being the possibility of him being an earth spirit right?" Renjun nods like a bobble head, scooting closer to the male on the other side of the table. </p><p>"Well he. No, they wouldn't do that would they? They didn't hate him that much!" Lijun says to himself. He massages his forehead and let's go of the cup on the table. Lijun gets up and locks the door. He looks at the security camera and winces. "Gah, I hope that camera doesn't record audio." Renjun looks up at said camera then back at the older coming back at the table. "You're sure you can find this spirit?" </p><p>"Well it might take a long time to find it, but I'm sure at some point we'll find him." Renjun says, tone laced with concern and optimism. Lijun leans forward and beckons Renjun to come closer. He starts to talk in a whispered voice. "Ok, here's what happened. I think this can help you a lot." </p><p>.</p><p>"HE WAS WHAT??" Chenle shouts.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Boom cliffhanger</p><p>Just to some things up, Chenle goes back and forth from his parent's house in District V, his brother's house, and his dorm time to time. Sort of like how he does with his mom's house in Seoul and the Dreamie's dorms in real life. </p><p>Feihong and Lijun are also original characters. They are not actually Chenle's cousins. </p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. 8. Earth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Dreamies solve a unsolved murder mystery that involves the Earth spirit</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hellow!! </p><p>Thank you for coming back to read this story! Just a warning, this chapter may be a little hard to read because of the lack of grammar skills heh..I tried correcting as much as I could so I apologize if something is not clear. If y'all have any questions about what was supposed to happen in this chapter and/or any other chapters in this fic let me know in the comments! </p><p>Once again, thanks for coming back and enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"SHHHHHH" </p><p>"He what?" Chenle says again in a lower tone. "Are you sure this guy is really his cousin and not some bandwagon Feihong associates with" Donghyuck asks, eyes narrowing at Renjun. "Lijun never lies!" Chenle says to his hyung. "He doesn't have the ability to lie! Sure he can swindle but if you ask a question straight to his face he crumbles." </p><p>"So if this is true" Jaemin starts. "Then Minsheng was-" he looks around his surroundings. The group was in a cafe in District V, eating pastries on a table. "-then Minsheng was murdered?" the vampire whispers. Renjun nods. He eyes the people in the cafe. "Let's get to the car, I'll explain then." </p><p>.</p><p>"Let me get this straight" Jeno says, eyes on the road. "So Minsheng was rock climbing with Chenle's aunt and uncle and he suddenly just falls to his death?" </p><p>"Why would they invite him to rock climbing? I thought they hated him" Jisung asks. "That's the point!" Renjun exclaims. "They suddenly invited him because they wanted to kill him!" </p><p>"But that is way too obvious. Chenle would've heard a rumor from his parents that his aunt and uncle committed murder upon a human being." Donghyuck says, still suspicious of this Lijun character. "Or.." Chenle says, grabbing the attention of his friends. "They knew, but decided it was better kept as a secret. The older people in my family likes to keep secrets from their children. Jiujiu and jiuma probably said he just died from a heart attack or something." The car runs silent. They had forgotten that they are going after a ghost who has died suddenly. Now it's even worse, with the possibility that said spirit was murdered in cold blood.</p><p>"We're gonna have to hunt Minsheng down in secret" Mark says, breaking the silence. "If we tell anyone, it could get US killed." </p><p>"We also have to find evidence and tell the police." Renjun says. "If it's true and they really murdered someone, then there are two people walking on this Earth unpunished."</p><p>.</p><p>Two days after, Dejun came up to Renjun after his class. </p><p>"Renjunn" he whispers. "Can you stay back for a sec?" Renjun looks at the older then at Donghyuck. The other shrugs and points to the hallway with his thumb, saying he will wait outside. 'What's up? Am I missing anything?" Renjun asks as he comes up to the podium. Dejun shakes his head. "Someone came in here this morning asking for you. Well, there were two people to be exact." Renjun tilts his head in confusion. "Did they say who they were?" </p><p>"No, but that's the thing. They looked like the president's security guards or something. They were decked out in black suits and had sunglasses on. I said you didn't have class today, but I have a feeling they didn't buy it." The human furrows his eyebrows and leans in closer. "Were they Chinese?" </p><p>"Pretty sure, they asked me that in Chinese" Dejun replies in a low whisper. </p><p>"Lijun betrayed me" Renjun thinks. He thanks Dejun for the heads up and quickly heads out of the classroom. "Donghyuck we gotta-" </p><p>Donghyuck wasn't there. </p><p>.</p><p>"Come on, pick up!" Renjun thinks. He's been running around district, looking for the merman in his favorite spots. The call isn't picked up. Renjun dials again, heart racing. "Chenle you said that Lijun is a good guy!" he says to the younger. "I told you he can't lie even if his life depended on it" Chenle replies, equally in distraught. "He must've been pressured in giving you up!" </p><p>Renjun spots Jeno and Mark running in from the opposite direction. "Did you find him?" Mark asks. Sweat covers his forehead, and fear visible in his wide eyes. "No, he's not answering any of my calls either" Mark rubs his face and pinches the bridge of his nose. </p><p>"Chenle" Mark says. "You told us that we can trust your cousin." </p><p>"I said he can't LIE." </p><p>"WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN??" Mark shouts angrily. Jeno puts a hand on Mark's shoulder. "Woah, hyung calm dow-" </p><p>"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN WHEN HYUCK IS MISSING? HE'S NOT ANSWERING ANY OF MY CALLS OR RENJUN'S." Renjun's phone rings. Quickly he checks the caller ID, but is disappointed when it's Jaemin. </p><p>"Did you find him?"</p><p>"No, he's not at the beach or at the ice cream shop." Jaemin says on the line. "He said they didn't find him" Renjun reports back. Chenle's shoulders sink and his face drops. Mark screams in agony and walks away from the group, bumping into Chenle's shoulder. "Hyung wait!" Jeno yells and runs after him. </p><p>"Gege what do I do" Chenle whispers in Chinese. "I-is it my fault?" </p><p>Renjun shakes his head and puts his hands on the younger's shoulders. "No, it is not your fault" he says sternly.</p><p>"But I dropped everyone's guard! I should've at least warned you guys about my family or, or-" </p><p>"It is not your fault Chenle. You didn't mean for this to happen. How could you have known if Lijun was a liar? He betrayed you too! Mark hyung is just upset, we all are. I know you are too." The leprechaun looks at his gege with watery eyes. "Gege, I'm scared. Donghyuck hyung is ok right?" </p><p>Renjun squeezes his shoulders and gives the younger a reassuring smile. "Of course he is, he's Donghyuck. He's not giving up without a fight." He takes Chenle into a hug. "We're going to find him if it's the last thing we do" he whispers. Chenle nods against Renjun's shoulder and let's go of the hug. "Thank you gege." </p><p>"Don't thank me. I haven't done anything" he says. </p><p>"Hello? Renjun you there?" The two look down at Renjun's phone. They had forgotten that Jaemin was on the line. "Yeah sorry about that. Did you find anything?" </p><p>"No, but we're going back to District 127. I've texted Mark hyung and he told us to meet at the hospital." </p><p>"Got it, we'll be there." Renjun says. He hangs up and takes Chenle's hand. "Let's go to the hospital." </p><p>"Wait" </p><p>Renjun stops and looks back. The worry and fear in Chenle's eyes suddenly vanished. Something replaced those two emotions. Something that was aggressive and violent. It kind of scares Renjun a bit. </p><p>"I'll take you to the hospital, but I'm going to Feihong's store." </p><p>"What? But what if you get-"</p><p>"They're my family gege. Family should NEVER hurt family, and even if they do, they don't know what's coming at them" Chenle smiles. Renjun frowns. He doesn't want Chenle to get hurt, he's like his younger brother. "Let me come with you at least" he says in a gentle tone. The younger shakes his head and looks at Renjun with determination and anger in his eyes. "No, they're targeting YOU and have taken hyung to lure you there. I'm not letting you take the bait." </p><p>Renjun's phone then suddenly starts to ring in his hand. "Come on, they're looking for you" Chenle says, taking off with Renjun to the hospital. </p><p>.</p><p>As the elevator takes him up to the cardiovascular ward, Renjun paces around the empty box. "He should be ok, he's going to be fine. He's Zhong Chenle, the kid is pretty scary" he assures himself. The elevator dings, signaling his arrival to the correct floor. Renjun runs out and into the laboratory where he finds his friends and Doyoung in the office, distressed. </p><p>"Where's Chenle?" Jaemin asks. Renjun bites his lip and looks around the room. All eyes were on him, except for Jisung's. </p><p>"He.. went didn't he?" the youngest asks, looking down at the floor. Renjun sighs. "I can't let him go by himself." </p><p>"What are you talking about? Did something happen to him?" Mark asks in a panicked tone. "No.. Chenle... went to District V." All eyes widen into big circles. "He's going to get hurt!" Jeno exclaims. "That's what I told him, but he persisted! I'm going to go there and find him." </p><p>"NO!" </p><p>Renjun turns around. Jaemin knocks a few chairs down as he runs up to the shorter. "They're looking for you. Don't go by yourself" he says, fear plastered on his face. The werewolf's hands stick to Renjun's arms, holding him in place. "We already have two people missing, please Renjun, don't." </p><p>Renjun sighs and puts a hand on Jaemin's. "I'm not letting him walk into something that can kill him." </p><p>"Then let the rest go with you." </p><p>Renjun and Jaemin turn to Doyoung. "District V should've been the first place for you guys to look in" he says, arms crossed on his chest. "Go there now, don't waste time." Renjun looks at his friends. His friends look at him. Jaemin let's go of Renjun and gives him a pointed look. "Don't go alone. Let us come with you" it's saying to him. The human nods and waves at his friends. "Let's go catch some murders." </p><p>.</p><p> </p><p>"Ok gang, don't let Renjun out of your sight and keep your eyes peeled for Donghyuck, Chenle, or any suspicious guards that look like they have an intention to kill us" Mark says. He parks at a spot near the store. He turns to his friends. "You guys ready?" They nod, getting ready to jump out of the car. Mark unlocks the car and immediately, the five stream out running straight to the store. </p><p>The store is dark. The lights are off and the closed sign plastered on the door mocks them with its fancy lettering. "Drats!" Renjun shouts. He shakes the door, but turns out to be locked. He looks around the building for a back door or a window they can get into. There were no alleyways, and no windows. They're stuck at a dead end. "Jisung, where do you think Chenle can be?" </p><p>Jisung looks to the side and furrows his eyebrows. "I'm not too sure. I guess he would be at a relative's place, but I don't know who that could be or where that is." Jeno sighs and sits down on the curb. "I'm calling him" Jaemin says and takes out his phone. Mark puts his hands on his hips and walks in circles. "Gah, I shouldn't have yelled at him" he says in agony. "I'm a terrible hyung" he groans into his hands. Renjun walks to Mark and drapes a arm around his shoulder. "No, you're not you were just upset." </p><p>"Yeah hyung don't beat yourself over it. I'm sure he understands" Jisung says. The group stays silent, letting the sound of the cars driving past them and the chatter of pedestrians walking by them take over. The city is filled with bright lights and life with music from the street market and laughter from the restaurants. All were the opposite of how the group was feeling at the moment. </p><p>Then a whiz of hope sneaks past them. </p><p>Literally, it flies right past them. Renjun looks up. He squints into the road and sees nothing but buildings and cars. </p><p>Then the thing flies past them again. </p><p>"Minsheng?" Renjun yells. His friends look up at him then at the direction he was looking at. The spirit flies past them once more. </p><p>"MR., WAIT" Renjun shouts and starts to run after the spirit. "RENJUN" Jaemin yells. He and the others run after their friend down the busy streets of District V, bumping into everyone and everything.</p><p>"Excuse me! Sorry!" </p><p>"Pardon! Coming through!" </p><p>"OW! STUPID POLE! GUYS WAIT UP" </p><p>Sooner or later, they follow the spirit into an expensive part of the town. Apartment buildings start to replace the department stores that lined the streets. The buzz of the district quiets down into complete and utter silence. Renjun doesn't take notice and focuses on the spirit in front of him. "MR., WAIT WE'RE NOT GOING TO HURT YOU!" he yells. The spirit flies a bit more before disappearing into thin air. The boys stop right as the spirit goes away. They take a chance to take a breather from running from the other side of the city at a fast speed. "What the heck was that for?" Jeno asks mid pant.</p><p>Suddenly the lights of a house turn on. </p><p>The boys freeze and watch as a figure come out of the back door of said house with a trash bag in his hand. </p><p>It was Lijun. </p><p>Without a word, Mark starts charging towards the fence of the house. "HEY PUNK!! WHERE'S OUR FRIENDS??!!" Lijun whips his heads towards Mark and gasps. He quickly drops the bag into the bin and runs into the house. "COME ON!!" Mark yells and tries to climbs the fence. The others follow right after him and successfully managed to get into Lijun's backyard. Sprinklers welcome them by spraying them with water at a high intensity, but that didn't stop them from blasting into the backdoor. </p><p>The lights were on in the spacious kitchen, but Lijun was nowhere to be found. "Be careful guys, he might've shrunk to hide from us" Jeno whispers. They decide to separate and search the house quietly, not minding the fact that they just broke into someone's home.</p><p>Renjun finds the stairs to the upper floor of the home. Quietly, while keeping his eyes peeled for a small figure Renjun sneaks up to the second floor of the house. When he reaches it he hear faint talking from one of the rooms. </p><p>He pauses. </p><p>"What? I have no idea what you are talking about" </p><p>"I'm telling you! There's a chance if you let me-" </p><p>"Just shut up! Let me leave Korea in peace! I don't need to ride a hour ride back to Beijing with the thought of my dead ex-fiance in mind" </p><p>Renjun gulps. He was about to go back down the stairs when he catches a small figure jumping up and down on the railing of the stairs. He squints in the dark stairwell at the figure. It had brown hair and was wearing a Neo University hoodie that was too big for his size. </p><p>"Chenle!" Renjun smacks his mouth close, fearing he was too loud. He offers his hand for Chenle to jump on. The younger takes the request, then jumps off to grow into his regular height. "What are you doing here gege??" Chenle whispers. "Don't worry I didn't come alone. The others are here. We're a team ok Chenle? We're going to find Hyuck together" Chenle's lip thin into a line. "But-" </p><p>"No buts." The leprechaun look upstairs then back at Renjun. His frown turns into a small smile, the smile Renjun always sees on the younger's face. "Ok, let's do this together." </p><p>"I'm hungry Lijun, I'm going to make dinner." </p><p>Renjun and Chenle freeze. They give each other panicked looks and climb down the stairs. "Guys!! Guys!!" Renjun whisper shouts. Jisung pokes his head from the living room. His face lights up upon seeing Chenle but immediately falls when he hear footsteps coming down the stairs. He turns back and tugs on Jaemin's shirt to grab his attention. The older hears the footsteps too and makes an X sign with his hands. "Just hide! We have no time to run!" </p><p>Chenle grabs Renjun's hand and takes him behind the staircase. They peer quietly and watch Feihong tiredly open her refrigerator for something to eat. "Ok, chances are Donghyuck hyung isn't here so let's just leave" Chenle whispers. </p><p>"But Lijun must know where he is!" </p><p>"I doubt it gege" </p><p>Suddenly, Feihong stops taking things out of the fridge. She whips her head towards Renjun and Chenle's direction. "Lele? Are you in the house?" Renjun makes a small yelp. They look around for a place to hide, but to their avail nothing can be found. "Lele, I heard you" they hear Feihong say. Footsteps walk closer and closer to behind the staircase. The Chinese boys hold their breaths as they await Feihong to find them. </p><p>"SNEAK ATTAAAAACK" </p><p>"JENO YOU AREN'T SUPPOSE TO YELL SNEAK ATTACK BEFORE YOU CLING ON TO THEM!!" </p><p>Renjun and Chenle freeze. They run out of the staircase. Jeno was holding Feihong down in the floor, with a concerned Mark standing right next to him. "Oh I caught her don't worry. Oh hi Chenle!" </p><p>"Hi hyung! How are you doing?" Chenle smiles. "Oh I'm pretty tired. You know with Hyuck being missing and all-" </p><p>"SHUT UP AND LET'S GO UPSTAIRS!!" Jaemin shouts and runs up the stairs. Renjun and Chenle follow right after, ignoring Feihong's calls for her younger cousin. "CHENLE!! ZHONG CHENLE!!" </p><p>Once they arrive the second floor, they start to burst doors down for Lijun. One by one, they search through the rooms for Lijun, but could not find him. Then Renjun kicks down one door and finds Lijun in the middle of escaping through a window. Immediately he runs into the room and try to tackle him. Renjun was late as Lijun shrunk into his leprechaun size. "GOSH DARN YOU LEPRECHAUNS!!" he yells and tries to cup Lijun on the floor. Jaemin and Chenle run into the room and see Renjun on the floor trying to cup something. Chenle too shrinks down and starts chasing after his cousin all over the room. </p><p>"Well geez do we just let Chenle do the chasing?" Jaemin asks. Honestly him and Renjun can't really do anything as gigantic people but watch their friend run after his cousin through carpet. That doesn't satisfy Renjun though as he tries using his telekinesis to grab Lijun from the ground but ends up grabbing Chenle instead. "Ooop! Sorry!" he says and drops Chenle on the ground. "Wait you lost him!" Jaemin says. Chenle turns and jumps as he realizes that his cousin is no where to be seen. </p><p>Suddenly the house starts to shake. The three wobble and fall onto their bottoms on the floor. Chenle grows back into his regular size. He tries to get up and walk to the window of the room to look for Lijun. To his horror, he finds instead that the ground the house is on is floating mid air. </p><p>"THAT IS ENOUGH" </p><p>Chenle and his friends turn to his cousin. Her hands were in a yellow orange cloud, and her eyes were bright orange. "I don't know how and why you people broke into my house but NO ONE tackles me! I am calling the police!" </p><p>"WAIT JIEJIE!" </p><p>"AS FOR YOU MISTER! I AM IMMEDIATELY CALLING YOUR PARENTS!" Feihong shouts. She aggressively drops the plot of land back to where it was making everyone and everything jump and jumbled. "No jiejie! You don't understand! Minshe-"</p><p>"STOP TALKING ABOUT HIM!! I DON'T NEED TO HEAR ABOUT HIM FROM YOU OR MY BROTHER" </p><p>Suddenly a green light on the bed next to the boys, glows and reveals a normal sized Lijun. "Minsheng can be saved jiejie!" he shouts. Jaemin tackles upon sight and pins him down to the bed. "Why are you teaming up with us traitor?!!?!?" he shouts. </p><p>"No, no! I'm not please just let me explain!" </p><p>Renjun clenches his fist and turns to Feihong. "Ms. Zhong. Minsheng is a earth spirit that is roaming the whereabouts of Neo City because YOUR parents has killed him in a rock climbing accident! Your brother has spilled the beans to your parents about the fact that people other then the ones you call mom and dad know about this. Because of that our beloved friend, who honestly can beat up his captors with his snarky vocabulary, has been kidnapped!" </p><p>Feihong furrows her eye brows even further. "You expect me to believe that? I'm calling the police!" </p><p>"WAIT, if we're lying then why would we have this?" </p><p>Feihong turns and gasps. Jaemin had let go of Lijun to show Feihong the ring he has found in Cherry Park. "Where, where did you find that?" </p><p>"It was deep in the dirt at Cherry Park." Jaemin says. He climbs out of the bed and walks up to the female. He takes her hand and lays the ring in her open palm. "It's possible. Just please, we beg of you help us find our friend. If we find him, we can revive Minsheng into an earth elemental." Feihong doesn't say anything. She stares at the dirty ring in her hand, tears brimming her large eyes. At this time, Mark, Jeno, and Jisung run up to the room everyone is in.</p><p>"Look! It's the spirit!" Jeno says, pointing at the window. Feihong looks up and gasps once more. The earth spirit, rocks forming it's spirit body in a yellow cloud that was not as bright as a lightning spirit but still lights the night, floats in front of the window. Feihong slowly walks towards and opens it. The spirit stares at her,  then looks at the ring in her hand. Feihong looks at her hand and offers the ring to the spirit. The spirit, grabs the ring and it disappears within its cloudy body. </p><p>"Minsheng" </p><p>The spirit freezes. Feihong brings out a hand to touch the ghost, slowly. "Minsheng, is that really you?" Before she could reach it though, the spirit vanishes into the night, taking its light with it.</p><p>Feihong lets her hand down. She turns to the boys in the room. All carried blank expressions on their faces, and didn't dare to speak a word. The woman takes a breath and lets go a heavy sigh. She makes eye contact with Renjun. "What is your name" </p><p>"Huang Renjun ma'am." </p><p>"Renjun, tell me everything starting from the beginning." </p><p>.</p><p>The car turns to a amusement park. This park is very popular within District V and is regarded as one of the top family hangout places in Neo City. </p><p>"Is the rock climbing place here?" Jeno asks, peering out of the window of Feihong's car. "Minsheng had told me he was going rock climbing with my parents in Korea" Feihong replies without turning to look at the werewolf. "This is where they most likely took your friend" Lijun says. He turns from the front and faces the boys. "And again I am so so sorry for giving you up Renjun. I was taught to never keep my mouth shut around family and that costed your friend." </p><p>"We can't forgive you until we find Donghyuck alive and well, but we understand" Renjun replies. "Yeah gege, we do" Chenle adds on. Lijun smiles at his younger cousin. "You have grown much more then the last time I've seen you" Chenle gives a small smile back. "Well, I can't stay small forever can I?" </p><p>Feihong parks the car not too close to the park, but close enough for them to walk a short distance. It was not time for the park to open, so unlike the bright colors and the bright sounds Renjun usually hears at an amusement park, it was dark and dead silent. No kids were running around with cotton candy or a big stuffed animal with their parents. The Ferris wheel looks lifeless without its shimmering lights and the rock climbing wall loomed behind the wheel, dark and sinister like.</p><p>Before unbuckling her seat belt, the spirit zooms past Feihong's car and into the park. "It looks like we're going to have a little help with us" Chenle laughs lightly in Chinese. "Seems so" the older replies. They all climb out of the car. "Look, this place is going to be roaming with my parent's guards. I advise to stay low and quiet when looking for your friend." </p><p>"Are you not going to come with us?" Mark asks. Feihong and Lijun look at each other then at the boys, They nod their heads. "We're going to bring the justice Minsheng deserve and turn our parents in" Lijun says with a determined smile. Chenle comes up to his cousins and gives them both a tight hug. "Good luck guys" he whispers. Feihong smiles and cards through Chenle's hair. "You too didi." </p><p>They separate into the park. The boys going in one way and Feihong and Lijun going in the other.</p><p>.</p><p>"This park is way too big, we've been walking around here for so long" Jisung complains. It was true. Once they stepped foot in the dark park, they immediately got lost. "I don't get it. According to this map, we should've reached the rock climbing mountain by now" Mark says, looking at a paper map he grabbed from the entrance. They walk further according to Mark's instructions only to be passing by the same merry go round for the 4th time. "Give me that" Renjun snaps. "Wait what the heck?" Mark wasn't lying, they were going in the right direction. "There might be a hidden entrance some where here, let's keep looking" Jaemin says. The rest agree. They split off into pairs and start hunting for any secret passage ways to the mountain. </p><p>"Why the heck would they hide the entrance to a place in a amusement park? What's the fun in that?" Renjun asks, looking through some bushes. "Maybe" Jaemin starts. He points to the name of the park on the map they took. "They did that for their own needs and not the public eye." Renjun squints at where Jaemin is pointing. </p><p>Park V </p><p>Founded in 1952 by the Zhong Family </p><p>"These people are getting on my nerves" Renjun deadpans. Jaemin snorts and looks around in the area they're in. They've wondered off into an area that seems like it held games. Empty booths lined both sides of the path way with the Ferris wheel in the distance. The fairy lights were off, making it much less magical then it should be. "Dang, this would be such as nice place for a date." Renjun turns to Jaemin. "What?" </p><p>"Hm? Nothing" </p><p>The human raises an eyebrow (after turning a bit red first. Maybe the dark atmosphere of the place was a good thing after all) then sighs. "I'm going to call the others and see how they're doing." Not a moment later, Jaemin freezes. "Get behind the bushes!" he whispers. Jaemin pushes a poor confused Renjun behind the shrubs and turns off his phone. "What are you- hmph!" Jaemin slaps a hand over Renjun's mouth and listens. Light footsteps are heard coming from the other direction. They freeze. </p><p>"I really want to go home, that merman kid is annoying the fuck out of me" one man says in Chinese. </p><p>"Hyuck!" Renjun thinks. </p><p>"Don't worry, boss gave me something that will make him talk. If he doesn't speak, we'll just kill him." </p><p>"Good, cause I really wanna go back to my bed and sleep." </p><p>The two men walk off, not noticing the two students hiding in the shrubs behind them. "What did they say?" Jaemin asks. "They're trying to hurt Hyuck for answers. If he doesn't give them what they want they'll kill him!" Renjun says. Jaemin's eyes grow. He quickly looks through the bushes to see if the men were near them. The coast was clear.</p><p>"Let's follow them, it'll lead us to Hyuck" Jaemin then turns into his wolf self. Renjun gives a thumbs out and quickly gets out from behind the bushes with the werewolf. Jaemin starts to sniff the ground for their scent. He points towards a certain direction with his nose. Renjun nods letting him know he'll follow him, and off they went. </p><p>.</p><p>Once they reach the end of the scent trail, they are met with a wall behind the merry go round. "There should be some sort of button or something to get through" Renjun says, looking around. Jaemin grows back and starts to look around as well. They tear down the vines that are hanging on the wall for a door or some sort of pass code. "What the heck? How did they get in?" Jaemin questions. They search for a bit more when a bright yellow light floats around them. </p><p>It was the spirit. </p><p>"Mr.!" Renjun whispers. The spirit floats towards the pair. Chenle and the rest were following close after. "Hey! Minsheng led us here!" Chenle says. "This is the entrance?" Mark asks, looking at the grey wall. "Apparently, but we don't know how to get in" Renjun says. Jaemin tuns to the spirit. "Do you have any recollection at all? Do you recognize this place?" The spirit stays still then turns to the forest next to the wall. "That's where he must've fell and died. The first thing spirits know is where they died." Jaemin says. He points to a thick jungle next to the wall. "Then there must be away through the forest" Renjun says. He walks up to the forest and takes a deep breath. Then he faces his hands towards the forest. They start to glow in a green cloud as Renjun focuses on his power. Then slowly, he tries to break the forest apart.</p><p>But it doesn't work. </p><p>"Gah, I think I'm too weak to push this apart." </p><p>"Then let's look for a door" Marks says. Mark, Jaemin, Jeno, and Jisung start to look around, but Renjun stares at the forest, wondering what he can do. Chenle walks up next to Renjun, staring at the jungle. His eyes are glossy and his face is blank, almost like he's in a trance. "You ok Chenle?" Renjun asks laced with concern. The younger doesn't answer and only furrows his eyebrows. He walks closer to the forest and touches the vines. "These vines are pretty weak, you should've moved these no problem." The spirit, watching them from behind, suddenly zips between them and through the forest. They watch as its light disappear through the forest, but also notice something else. </p><p>"Did something move in there?" Renjun asks, peering into the vines. It was too dark to see, but something is definitely blocking his chance of moving such weak vines. </p><p>At that moment, Chenle's hand sparked a bright yellow. </p><p>They both caught it. They looked at each other with surprise and confusion. His hand sparks yellow again, then starts to glow fully yellow. "Guys, help us!" Mark shouts. They turn to him. Mark looks at them from his peripheral then fully shifts towards them. He smiles. "Chenle, I think you're elemental is coming in!" The rest turn to Chenle and jump back. Chenle's hand was encased in a bright yellow cloud, so bright that it could be mistaken for a lightning elemental. The younger smiles at his friends then at his hands. He turns towards the forest. "Gege, what do I have to do to move something?" Renjun puts his hands on Chenle's arms and faces it towards the forest. "Focus on your target, then when you're ready move it to the direction you want it to go" Chenle closes his eyes and slows his breathing. He focuses on his target then slowly starts to move it up into the sky. A giant boulder emerges from the "forest." All of the vines limp sadly on the ground. Their mask that had made them look strong has been taken away from them. "You're doing it Le!" Jisung cheers. Chenle smiles and calmly moves the boulder onto the side. </p><p>"WAIT! Lower it before you-"</p><p>CRASH!! Chenle drops the boulder on a poor tent that was just standing there, enjoying its life as a... well a tent. </p><p>It was a good first try though. </p><p>"I did it!" Chenle cheers. His friends cheer with him, but are interrupted as guards start to emerge from the other side of the fake forest. "Get them!" one of them yells. </p><p>The guards come at them with their own powers. They were all earth fae. </p><p>"LET'S GO!" Mark yells and charges into one of the guards, sending him far off into the distance. The guards start to use their powers and maneuver rocks at the boys. They all try the best as they can to avoid the rocks being thrown at them. "We need to get on the offensive!" Jeno yells, dodging a boulder that almost smashed him. He turns into his wolf self, which would help him accurately dodge each rock being thrown at him. Renjun uses his force field to shield him from the flying slabs and uses the limp vines to tie one of the guards. "Jaemin!" Jaemin looks up and sprints to the guard and Renjun. He takes the vine and uses it to throw the tied guard into the air like a ragdoll.</p><p>Another guard they didn't see uses the ground to lift them up, trapping them in a tiny piece of land. He does the same to all but Chenle. </p><p>"Young master" the guard says, coming up to him. "I believe you're parents are missing you right now. I suggest you to go home and do their bidding before they go ballistic on you." </p><p>"HE'S NOT LEAVING YOU OLDIE" Jisung shouts.The guard looks up and glares at Jisung. "Don't you EVER disrespect your elders you brat!" he shouts before sending a boulder to knock him off. The fae luckily uses his ice in time and gets the rock stuck in it, but now only has a sliver of rock to stay on without falling to his death. </p><p>"He's right you dingus, I'm not going anywhere. Jisung unfreeze it!" Jisung unfreezes the rock. Chenle maneuvers it and knocks a couple of guards down before smashing it into the gray building next to him. "You! You" </p><p>"That's right, I'm not as pathetic as all of you think I am" Chenle smirks. He maneuvers the rock Jisung was on and lowers it down closer to the ground. The guard, not noticing Jisung's descent, maneuvers a couple of rocks of his own and shapes them into daggers. "We will have no witnesses!" </p><p>"Yes you will" The guard turns around. He barely has any time to react as Jisung freezes him whole in a gigantic ice cube. The guards are defeated. "Yeah!! The babies did it!" Jeno shouts. "Now can you get us down from here?" </p><p>.</p><p>They found the entrance through the fake forest and under the building. It was a basement door. "Of course, bad people always have their evil lairs in lower ground" Chenle says. Renjun rolls his eyes at his remark and gently opens the door. It creaks as it opens to a long dark hallway with no light. "Well geez how are we going to see if it's that dark?" Mark questions out loud. Luck was on their side. The earth spirit zooms through the group and into the hallway. It stops and looks back. "Come on!" Chenle says and walks into the hallway. Jaemin, Jisung, and Renjun go in then Jeno and Mark follows after. The spirit leads them to the only room in the hallway.</p><p>The door was open. </p><p>"I'm telling you I ain't opening my mouth!" </p><p>"Donghyuck!" Mark whisper yells. </p><p>"Well you're going to open your mouth when you see this." </p><p>Jeno opens the door slowly. Donghyuck is in his merman form, floating in a vertical tank with his arms crossed and his face unimpressed (classic Donghyuck). A woman sitting on a chair in the back of the room sips on her tea quietly while a man in a suit stands in front of the tank. </p><p>"Jiujiu and Jiuma!" Chenle whispers.</p><p>One of the guards Renjun and Jaemin saw earlier bring out fire wood while the other one starts to connect a tube that was linked with the tank to a furnace.  </p><p>"Would you open your mouth in hot boiling water?" </p><p>There was silence. Then, Donghyuck smirks, surprising the man a bit. "No, cause my friends are here." </p><p>On cue, Jeno turns into his wolf self and head butts into the man. The woman stops sipping her tea and gets up from her chair. The rest of the boys pile into the room. </p><p>"Donghyuck!" Mark shouts.</p><p>"Mark hyung!" Donghyuck yells.</p><p>"Chenle!" Chenle's aunt says. </p><p>"Jiuma!" Chenle greets</p><p>"GET THE TUBE!!" Renjun shouts.</p><p>The woman maneuvers the ground into a rising wall, blocking them from the furnace. "Ch-Chenle? What are you doing here? Your parents must be worried sick that you're-" </p><p>"Stop mentioning my parents!" Chenle shouts in response and lifts his aunt by maneuvering a rock like the guard had done earlier. Jeno from the other side runs into the wall and breaks it down. Mark and Renjun work to getting Donghyuck out of the tank while Jaemin and Jisung fights the guards. </p><p>"Chenle! We're FAMILY" his aunts says, hitting him with a maneuvered rock. Chenle is sent flying back to the back wall. "UGH!" he lets out. His aunt throws another rock at him, but he stops it right before it hits his face. "My you have grown have you? I always thought you will be a little child for the rest of your life!" Chenle doesn't say anything and pushes the rock back his aunt returning the favor of pushing her into the opposite wall. </p><p>"Leave me! Go help Chenle!" Donghyuck yells. "We need to get you out though! You don't have enough water to pop this thing open!" Donghyuck eyes something on the side in which Renjun and Mark turn to. It was a sewer grate. "Uh, you sure about this?" </p><p>"Whatever just hook it up" Donghyuck deadpans. Renjun and Mark get to work right away and switch the tube from the furnace to the sewer grate. </p><p>Just then, Chenle's uncle had just gotten up. "THAT'S ENOUGH!!" he yells and maneuvers the ground to crack in half, splitting the floor into two. "WE WILL NOT HAVE ANY REMINDER OF OUR PAST!!" </p><p>"So you admit that you killed Minsheng?" </p><p>The people in the room turn. Feihong and Lijun were standing at the doorway, glaring at their father. "Feihong! What the heck are you doing here?" </p><p>"Avenging for my lost love" Feihong and Lijun work together to bring the floor halves back together. Their father notices and tries to keep it apart. </p><p>Jisung freezes a part of the crack to make a bridge. Jaemin runs over it and tackles Chenle's uncle, bringing the floors back to how it was before. </p><p>"Feihong, Minsheng was a human being! Humans are cruel and distasteful beings! We were only doing what we could to protect you from those imbecile beasts!" Chenle's aunt says. "Ok rude" Renjun says from the other side. Mark slaps his mouth close. The human realizes that he has given up his cover and groans. "Great job genius" Donghyuck scoffs. </p><p>Chenle's uncle's eyes widen. He pushes Jaemin off of his back and manipulates a piece of the floor. "See Feihong dear? This is what you do to a human!" he yells. He throws it at Renjun before Chenle stops it mid air. His eyes are glowing orange like how Feihong's were before. The Chenle everyone in the room had known is no longer the bubbly innocent kid they've seen. Now, a more mature and angry Chenle takes his place. </p><p>"Stop messing with my friends!" he yells before pushing the rock back at his uncle, knocking him unconscious. "NO!!" his aunt cries out. She tries to manipulate the rock that knocked out her husband but was stopped by Jeno's tackle. Donghyuck bursts of the tank, making a explosion of water. Mark runs and catches his partner and carries him bridal style. </p><p>"Hi"</p><p>"Hi"</p><p>Renjun makes a gag noise. Mark rolls his eyes and lets Donghyuck down, now that he has his legs back. "Donghyuck hyung!" Chenle yells and goes to hung a wet Donghyuck. "Hi kiddo" he laughs. The rest of the boys cheer for his release and come to join his hug. From behind, Lijun meekly comes behind. "Ahem" he coughs. The boys turn to him. "I wanted to apologize for causing this to happen" he says. "If I didn't give out to my parents" he points out to the one half of unconscious people laying on the ground. "This wouldn't have happened." Mark let's go of Donghyuck and puts a hand on Lijun's shoulder. "It's ok, we forgive you" he smiles. Lijun's eyes widen. "Y-you do?" </p><p>"Yeah, we do." Donghyuck chuckles. "Your parents, they were pretty controlling during your childhood huh?" </p><p>Lijun looks down then at Feihong. She smiles weakly and walks up to the group. "Was it obvious?" she says, giving a sad laugh. "We know you couldn't have helped it" Chenle says. "Plus without you, we wouldn't have found out the truth." He hugs Lijun and Feihong together. "You guys should be proud." The trio stand there. Then Feihong and Lijun return the favor and hug their favorite cousin. Crying and laughing together. "Uh while we're apologizing" Mark says. The cousins let go and focus their attention on the vampire. "Chenle, I'm so sorry I yelled at you earlier and I'm so sorry that it took THIS long for me to apologize" Chenle laughs and hugs his hyung. "It's ok hyung, I get it. When our loved ones are in trouble we can't help, but worry."</p><p>"That's why you need to come back to your parents quick Lele" Feihong says gently. "They're worried about you." Chenle bites his lip. He turns to his friends. They all smile at him. "You know they love you, and you know you love them back" Renjun says. The leprechaun nods. "Yeah I do, but first I think we need to call the police." The room laugh. "Of course, come let me show you the evidence we found then we can call the police." Lijun says. </p><p>The group starts walking out of the room. </p><p>"Wait" </p><p>They stop and look back. Jaemin brings out his spirit ball and turns to the broken tank. The spirit comes out from behind it and floats towards the vampire. It stops and looks at the group behind him, Feihong specially. "Don't worry Ms. Zhong, we'll get him back into shape" Jaemin says. He lets Minsheng into the capsule and closes it. </p><p>"Thank you" Feihong says lightly. Jaemin smiles at the woman. "It's just what we do ma'am." </p><p>.</p><p>The rest of the night, the group gather necessary evidence for the case and called the police. Chenle's aunt and uncle along with the guards were arrested. After that, they all went to the hospital to drop Minsheng off (Doyoung made sure to give them a week off as an reward).</p><p>"Ready to go home?" Renjun asks Chenle. The younger yawns and stretches his arms. "You know I don't actually live with my parents right?" he laughs. "Wait you don't? Then why did you have to move?" Mark asks. </p><p>"Cause his parents know where he is dimwit, he lives at the dorms remember?" Donghyuck says, pulling Mark's cheeks. The group laugh heartily. "I'll call them once I get back. Let's go home!" </p><p>Feihong drives the group back to campus. Jeno, Donghyuck, and Mark happily trotted off to their dorm rooms. Jisung, Jaemin, and Renjun took Chenle back to his dorm room. Well tried.</p><p>"Guys I'm fine" he says. Chenle almost bumps into a wall if it wasn't for Jisung catching him. "You used too much of your power bud, we gotta watch you." Jaemin says. Chenle pouts then takes Jisung's hand and waves the other two away. "Then let Jisung take me up, you guys had enough for today." </p><p>"You sure Chenle?" Renjun asks.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm fine go ahead and rest. Come Sungie, DESTINY AWAITS US!" </p><p>"Ow! You're pulling on my arm! Alright, alright, I'm coming!" </p><p>Their hyungs chuckle and bid them good night before going to their own building. Quietly, they walk into the lobby, not ignoring the mailbox before going into the elevator. </p><p>"Tonight was fun" Jaemin says. Renjun raises a brow and smiles. "Why, all of your other hunts weren't like this?" Jaemin laughs and turns to the shorter. "Not that exactly. I've never went hunting with friends before.. or went hunting for a missing person." </p><p>"Told you he was going to be fine" </p><p>"Yeah I think we all knew that. Even Mark hyung" </p><p>The two laugh and talk on the way to the dorm room. Renjun is relieved to see the familiar space that is their living room. "Happy much?" Jaemin laughs, closing the door behind them. "Oh thank god I have one class tomorrow" Renjun says, going to hug a pillow on the couch. The werewolf laughs once more and then yawns. He turns into his wolf form and goes next to Renjun on the couch who happily accepted and started petting. </p><p>"Great work pup" he says. He yawns and cuddles closer to the wolf and just like that, they fall asleep with a days work finished.</p><p>.</p><p>
  <i>"These are my favorite candies" The boy shows him a bright tin with a funny looking mascot on it. "The lady at the story gives it to me for free!"</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"Awee, you're lucky you get free candy" Injun pouts. The boy laughs a bright laugh, bringing the smile to Injun's face.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"You're so cute Injun!"</i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ok to clear up some things just in case you guys didn't get them: </p><p>- The guards had put Donghyuck in one of those science experiment tubes in the basement. They threw him water so that way he's in his merman form. At the time, Donghyuck did not have enough power to conduct his own water and use it for combat (he will be later in the future) so he needs water nearby to manipulate and use instead, like waterbending in Avatar. In order to burst out of the tube, Donghyuck needed enough water to make the tube explode so that's why Renjun and Mark hooked the tube to the sewage...so Donghyuck can use sewage water...it's gross but that was all he got in the moment.</p><p>- The entrance to the basement in the amusement park was just a boulder holding up a bunch of thick vines next to the wall of a building. The people who made this entrance didn't have the energy to build an actual wall or forest so they just threw a huge ass rock in the middle to hold up the vines.</p><p>Again if you have any questions please let me know in the comments! Thanks again for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. 9. The Deal with Werewolves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jeno runs into some trouble with his pack.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey guys! </p><p>There is going to be a mention of a dead body in this chapter, so please be warned! It will pop up at the very end of this chapter, so if you don't want to read it, you can go ahead and skip the last few sentences of the chapter (the dead body is not heavily described though).</p><p>Also wanted to remind y'all that the "antagonists" in this chapter are OC's, and not real people. I did not use any idols who share the same name as them. </p><p>Thanks for reading and enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>
    <b>TW!!: A DEAD BODY WILL APPEAR IN THIS CHAPTER. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.</b>
  </i>
</p><p>"Renjun you ok?" </p><p>"Hm?" Renjun hums. Mark takes a fry and takes a bite. "You look really spaced out today." The human sitting on the other side of the table freezes. </p><p>"Should I tell him. Can I tell him? I'm going to tell him, I can trust him. He's not a Donghyuck or a Chenle" his mind blurts. </p><p>
  <i>An hour before</i>
</p><p>"Mmm, what time is it" Renjun groans. He reaches for his phone on the small coffee table in front of him and checks the time. "Oh thank god I'm not late to class." Renjun puts the phone back on the table and sighs. "Well, I should get ready." </p><p>He tries to use his arms to push himself off of the couch, only to be stopped by a force pulling him back down. Renjun looks down to see a pair of arms hugging him and a leg wrapped around his own. He then slowly shifts his head up and is met by Jaemin's sleeping face.  "Ah, I must've fell asleep with him on the couch" he thinks.</p><p>Renjun doesn't try to get up again though, and instead stares at the taller's features. Renjun's eyes move down from Jaemin's bright ass pink hair to the his nose then his lips. </p><p>He gulps. </p><p>Jaemin starts to mumble something then readjusts himself, letting go of Renjun a bit. The latter, still doesn't make the effort to get up though, being too busy staring at the wolf's face and enjoying the warmth he's giving him. </p><p>"Since when was he so handsome? Well all the time, gah you're stupid Renjun." He scoots closer to the latter's neck and lays his head on his shoulder. "I don't want to leave~ it's really warm." He takes one last look at the other, and halts. "Wait a minute..." Renjun scoots down back to his original position and looks at Jaemin's face fully. "Have I ever met him before college? Why am I getting deja vu?" He stares at the other's face, trying to solve the puzzle that has arrived in his head. However, before he could even pick up one piece, his phone's alarm rings. Renjun quickly grabs his phone to dismiss the alarm and climbs out of Jaemin's limbs to get ready. </p><p>"Ah it's so cold!" </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun decides not to tell Mark. </p><p>Luckily, Doyoung unknowingly saves him by sending them both a alert on the radar for a water spirit on their campus. </p><p>"Geez we just finished classes and we have to go back? Come on Renjun" Mark says. </p><p>.</p><p>Water spirits tend to be very cute. </p><p>By cute, I mean to the point of annoyance (Renjun likes to compare Donghyuck to a water spirit for that exact reason). </p><p>For the past 15 minutes, Renjun and Mark had been chasing this water spirit all around campus. In the spirit's defense, it thinks they wanted to play hide and seek with it so it was only fulfilling its role in the game. </p><p>"Hide and seek is over!" Mark yells out. "It never even began in the first place!" Renjun adds after. They catch the spirit poking out of a bush.</p><p>"There it is!" </p><p>But it swims through the air, away from them to find another hiding place. </p><p>"This spirit is very competitive" Renjun says. They rush after it and end up at the school's gym. "I'll go look outside, you go in and find it" Mark says and runs off to the back of the gym. Renjun opens the bulky doors and rushes inside, catching the sound of shoes squeaking on the floor and a sound of a basketball bouncing up and down. </p><p>"Frick there's a class in here." </p><p>A strength and speed honing class was playing a game of basketball in the court, too busy to notice the distressed human at the bleachers.</p><p>Renjun decides to climb the bleachers to get a better view for the spirit. Unlike a wind spirit or a lightning spirit, water spirits tend to stay in one place (because of their hide and seek skills), so he has to keep his eye out for it. </p><p>"Renjun?" Renjun stops at the 3rd bleacher and looks up to see Jeno sitting at the 5th one with a confused expression. "What are you doing here?" he asks. Renjun climbs up to Jeno's level and sits next to the other. "Have you seen a water spirit fly in here? It thinks Mark hyung and I are playing a game with it and is probably hiding in the gym." Jeno raises both of his eyebrows and makes an O with his mouth. He turns to the court and narrows his eyes to look for the spirit. "No, but I'll make sure to keep a eye out. Go up higher, you'll probably see better." The human nods and gets up. "Oh by the way-" </p><p>"Yeah?" </p><p>"-why are you wearing Jaemin's hoodie?" </p><p>Renjun stares at Jeno for a moment then looks down at the hoodie he was wearing. Behold, Jaemin's white hoodie that Renjun threw on cause he didn't have time to find one from his own closet (it was sitting in the new laundry pile that neither Renjun or Jaemin bothered to fold and put away). "Huh didn't notice. How did you know it was Jaemin's?" Jeno taps his nose and smiles. "I have a dog nose my friend. I know all of your scents by heart." The buzzer rings signaling the end of the game. "Ok guys go ahead and clean up and go home, you're all a sweaty mess" the teacher shouts. Renjun sees Jaemin's pink hair bobbing to the bleachers. The boy was drenched in sweat and was panting from the game. </p><p>"Renjun? What are you doing here?" he asks. Renjun gulps. Jaemin looks a bit too attractive for Renjun's poor brain to process. The other raises an brow, making it worse for Renjun's last brain cell to even function (wow even his nervous system is panicking). "Renjun and Mark hyung are looking for a water spirit" Jeno says. Jaemin pauses himself mid drink, making Jeno laugh. "It wouldn't be in there would it? It won't know how to open a bottle!" The vampire nods and continues to drink his water. </p><p>Mark comes running in soon after and finds Renjun standing on the bleachers. "Oh hey guys" he greets Jaemin and Jeno. "Couldn't find it, huh?" he says to Renjun. Renjun shakes his head and walks down the seats to ground level. "No, but since the game is over we can get help from these two" he says, pointing both of his hands, one to the boy sitting on the bleachers and the other to the one downing a whole ass bottle. "Let Jaemin shower first, he doesn't like being stinky" Jeno laughs as he comes down the seat. </p><p>"Hey Maple Syrup!"</p><p>The group turns and meets three students, two boys and one girl, glaring at them. "Why are YOU in here? We already have Pointy Teeth in here" one of the boys says. Mark only rolls his eyes and tells his friends he'll go wait outside. "That's right! Just go! Leave Jeno alone for once in your life will ya?" the boy yells. Jeno thins his lips into a line and jumps down from the bleachers. He tries to walk away from the trio but is stopped by the boy who spoke ill against Mark. "We have a meeting today, don't want to upset my father do you?" Jeno rips his arm out of the boy's hand and walks into the locker room to gather his things. The boy scoffs in disbelief and turns to Jaemin. "This is your doing is it? Jeno has never disrespected me like this before!" </p><p>"Just go back to your doggy friends Taeseok, no one wants to see you here" Jaemin snaps. The boy slaps Jaemin's face and storms off with the other two following him back to a group of people huddled at the entrance of the gym. "Geez, are you ok Jaem?" Renjun asks, voice laced with concern. Jaemin grabs his water bottle and gives Renjun a small smile. "Don't worry about it. I'll go take a shower and come right out with Jeno. Go ahead and stay with Mark" he says, before walking to the locker room. </p><p>"What are we in a morning drama?" Renjun mumbles and goes ahead and walks to the door where Mark is waiting for him. </p><p>.</p><p>Thankfully, Jeno finds the spirit hiding in his locker and stuffed it into his capsule ball while it was asleep. When him and Jaemin went out to meet Mark and Renjun, they quietly walked together to pick up Donghyuck from the theater so they can drive to the hospital together in Mark's car. </p><p>That's why Renjun is sitting between Jeno and Jaemin in the backseat of Mark's hand me down SUV with Donghyuck in the front seat and Mark in the driver's seat next to him.</p><p>That doesn't explain the drop dead silence that carried from campus to the car they're sitting in. </p><p>"So... how was your day guys?" Donghyuck asks once they stopped at a red light. No one replies. Mark stares at the traffic light, Jaemin looks out a window, Jeno observes his shoes, and Renjun gives a "help me" look to Donghyuck. The merman raises a brow and turns to his boyfriend to pry some answers from him. "Mark hyungg?" he asks. "Hm?" the older responds, still staring at the damn red light. "What the heck happened to you guys? Why does Renjun look scared to death?" Donghyuck asks, teeth clenched. </p><p>"Sungjoon and them happened" Mark gives up, not able to resist Donghyuck. The latter winces and turns to the front. "Ah, I get it now." </p><p>"I don't! Who were those guys and why did they slap Jaemin in the face?" Renjun questions. Donghyuck whips his body towards Renjun, Mark finally takes his attention off of the light and at Renjun through the mirror. "What do you mean they slapped him?" Mark asks. </p><p>"Mark hyung the light changed" Jaemin deadpans. Mark looks back at the road and starts to drive again. Donghyuck however, takes his job and presses for questions. "Which one slapped him Jun? The tall one, the girl, or the short one?" Renjun thinks back. "The tall one." Donghyuck let's go of a breath and turns back to the front. Renjun groans. "You guys are very unhelpful you know that??"  Donghyuck turns back. "Ah sorry, so Sungjoon is-" </p><p>"AH.HA.AH.HA.AH.HA.AH.HA. VERY FUNNY LEE.DONG.HYUCK. AH.HA.AH.HA" </p><p>Everyone gives Jeno a weird look. The latter ignores them and glares at his roommate with a fake smile on his face. Donghyuck rolls his eyes and turns back to the front. Renjun opens his mouth to say something, but is stopped by Jaemin's hand squeezing his. The car ride and the trip to the lab went back to its quiet state. </p><p>.</p><p>The group carried its silence into Doyoung's office where they find Chenle practicing his new elemental with Doyoung with Jisung playing some sort of game on his phone in the background. </p><p>The leprechaun gets a hold of a small rock and starts lifting it in the air. "Ok, now gently bring it down to the table" Doyoung says. Chenle tries, but ends up dropping it ungracefully onto the coffee table. "You know what kiddo?-" Doyoung starts, staring at his now dented coffee table. "-I think Kun will be a better help then me... and might have more patience then I do." Chenle pouts. "Awe I'm sorry Chenle. I only meant 1/3 of that." Doyoung says, ruffling the younger's hair. </p><p>"Ahem" </p><p>The three look up at the five boys awkwardly standing in the doorway. "Oh hey guys! Did you catch the spirit?" They all nod in unison but don't make an effort to answer him verbally. Doyoung tilts his head in confusion. "Ok.. then one of you go put it in a container. I want you guys to get a head start on any homework you need to do before you do spirit stuff." Jaemin, being the one who was carrying the spirit from and to the hospital (he's the only one who is able to calm spirits with his hands) walks to the the containment room while the rest scoot to the table and take their respective seats. </p><p>"Ok, I can't hold it in anymore, Taeseok slapped Jaemin on the face today!" Donghyuck yells, not even after a second of setting his butt down in a chair. </p><p>"WHAT?" Chenle shouts. Jisung's eyes widen in shock. Donghyuck turns to his roommate and grabs him by the collar of his shirt. "Tell Renjun about your pack you imbecile" he says, shaking Jeno like a can of whipped cream. "Gahhh, Hyuck stoooop." </p><p>"You know how curious Renjun is all the time! Look how he's glaring at you!" Jeno turns to the human sitting next to him and is stunned by the look on his face. It wasn't much really. Renjun's eyes were only narrowed, but that was enough to scare Jeno into submission. "Ok, ok I'll tell you geez" Jeno says. "You see, my pack is a very traditional one. Long story short, they hate vampires and they don't like the fact I hang out with two so they taunt and exclude me any chance they get along with bullying Mark hyung and Jaemin. Though, this is the first time I've heard they physically hurt one of them" Jeno explains.</p><p>"It would be best if you stayed away from them. If they act like that towards vampires, then they'd probably act worse towards a human. Just think what happened to Minsheng" Mark says. Renjun shivers in fear. Minsheng was a bit of a wake up call to him when it came to interacting with other creatures. </p><p>"Hey don't scare him like that! Renjun is different! The boy can wack people in the head with tree branch and turn himself into a hamster using his all mighty hamster ball!" Donghyuck says, bringing his fist into the air like a superhero. The human rolls his eyes and shifts his attention to his online worksheet. At that moment when Jaemin walks into the office, Doyoung lets out a sigh. "What's wrong hyung?" Jaemin says, closing the door behind him. "There's another spirit missing again." The group turn their heads towards to the doctor.</p><p>"A plant spirit went off radar in District U. Finish what you can in 20 minutes and head on over there. If you have a exam tomorrow or a essay due soon stay back. Stay alert for any spirit on radar, so you can head straight to that spirit's location." </p><p>.</p><p>"Can you sense other werewolves?" </p><p>The group had split into pairs and one group of three to search around District U for the spirit and some clues. Like fate, Renjun had been paired off with Jaemin. </p><p>"Uh, not really. It's a bit weaker then other wolves since I'm half. Why?" Jaemin answers. His focus was on fishing something out of the stream, you know the same one that Jeno got stuck in a boat in. </p><p>"Can't Jeno sense you're a werewolf too?" Renjun asks, looking through his own part of the stream. Jaemin looks up and turns to Renjun. "Huh" </p><p>"What? Did you find anything?" </p><p>"No, this is the first time your question actually made me think" Jaemin says. "I actually don't know if he can sense me or not. If he did, he probably would've said something by now." Renjun mindlessly swishes through the running water with his net. He was getting tired of repeating the same action over and over again. Maybe he should use the essay excuse to go back to the hospital and finish that worksheet. "Why?" Jaemin asks after a while. "Well, Jeno told me that those guys hated you because you're a vampire, but technically you're also their kind." Renjun answers. Jaemin doesn't say anything after that. They fished in silence until Renjun sees a orange ball coming down the stream. "Jaemin look!" he yells. Jaemin turns to where Renjun is pointing at and quickly rushes over to catch the ball with his net. "Got it!" he exclaims. The pair looks at the ball in detail. It was a bright orange with a gigantic Pororo logo plastered on it. </p><p>It also, had little vines covering it. </p><p>"Here's our first clue" Jaemin smiles. "By the way, Huang Renjun," </p><p>Renjun hums. Jaemin walks to Renjun, downsizing the space between them until there was very little left. He bends down to match Renjun's heigh, noses almost touching. </p><p>"Why are you wearing my hoodie?" </p><p>Renjun's face starts to get hot. He gulps and takes a deep breath to calm himself. </p><p>"I was cold." </p><p>"How, it's spring." </p><p>"I.. was just cold." </p><p>"Why didn't you get your own hoodie from your closet?" </p><p>"I was.. lazy." </p><p>Jaemin tilts his head. Despite it being the truth, he doesn't quite buy the shorter's story. He inches closer to Renjun's face, the latter backing away a bit. They make eye contact and hold it for as long as they could. </p><p>Until Jaemin's phone rings. </p><p>The wolf straightens himself and takes the call, quickly forgetting the little interaction. Renjun on the other hand, was quickly gathering his ability to think again. </p><p>"Hello?" </p><p>Quickly, Jaemin's face turns from unbothered to anger when hearing the other person on the other line talk. He quickly hangs up the call and looks up at Renjun. "Jeno and them are in trouble, come on!" </p><p>.</p><p>Upon arrival to the scene, Renjun and Jaemin are met with a large group of werewolves. In the middle stood a sole girl with her hair high up in a ponytail, wearing a white collared shirt with black slacks. Renjun recognizes her as one of the bullies that "Taeseok" was with at the gym. His eyes shift to his friends. Donghyuck and Chenle had some sort of orange rope tied around their hands in captivity. Jeno was in his wolf form being held by a leash in a muffle, snarling at the girl in the middle. </p><p>What the heck was going on?</p><p>"Grab them." The girl says in a monotone voice. Two pairs of werewolves come behind and grab Renjun and Jaemin's arms. The ball sitting in Jaemin's hands is dropped to the floor, long forgotten by its holder. "Let us go!" Jaemin growls. The girl raises an eyebrow and laughs. "Why should I listen to YOU, Pointy Teeth?" She turns her attention Renjun and tilts her head. "You're new" she states. "Allow me to introduce myself then. The name's Park Eunbyul. What are you?" Eunbyul asks Renjun. Renjun squeezes his mouth shut. He doesn't want her to know that he's human. Eunbyul rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. "Fine then, don't tell me. You can die as a mystery." She says before waltzing over to Jeno. She kneels down to look at him face to face. "We told you to stop hanging around these imbeciles didn't we? Wanna know what happens when you don't listen to us?" Jeno's eyes widen. He doesn't stop moving though and growls at Eunbyul loudly. Eunbyul gets up and nods at a werewolf guard. He nods back and grabs a bucket of water on the ground and throws the water at Donghyuck to change him into his merman form. </p><p> Renjun and his friends comically look at the guy who throw the water at Donghyuck. He didn't change, cause the latter wasn't fully in water god damn it. </p><p>Instead, he slowly turns his head to the guy who threw at the water him and glares. "Do I... look like the fucking Wicked Witch of the West to you?? HUH?? THE HECK WAS THAT FOR??" he shouts. </p><p>"Well if you think about it, you kinda are like the Wicked Witch of the W-" </p><p>"Huang SHUT. UP"</p><p>Donghyuck turns to Eunbyul. "Did you really think throwing a freaking bucket of water will turn me? Do your research woman god!" Eunbyul, remaining unbothered, snaps her fingers. One of her henchman turns into a wolf and tackles Donghyuck to the ground. </p><p>"Now that the fun is over" she starts. "Let's go back to where we left off." Renjun furrows his eyebrows. He looks for a tree or a bush somewhere near them. He spots a little bush on the sidewalk and smiles. Renjun's hands start glow in a green cloud. Suddenly a long vine grows from the bush and pulls Eunbyul's foot causing her to fall. The human creates a force field, popping two men off of him and rushes over to his best friend. Once Renjun gets to Donghyuck, Jaemin's eyes widen as he watches Renjun's hands slowly getting closer to the rope that tied Donghyuck's hands together. </p><p>"NO RENJUN DON'T-" </p><p>"AHH" Renjun hisses. The rope stung him upon contact. A small cut causes a little stream of blood to come out of his finger. He sucks on it before making eye contact with a scared Donghyuck.</p><p>He realizes. Werewolves can smell human blood. </p><p>"You befriended a fucking human?" Eunbyul laughs. Jeno stops moving and stares at Renjun's bleeding finger. He looks towards Jaemin for help and the latter nods. He kicks the crotch on one of the guys who was holding his arm and kicks him in the stomach. He punches the other guy in the face and rushes over to Jeno's captor but is punched in the gut by the guy who threw the water at Donghyuck. Eunbyul turns and sees Jaemin fighting one of her men. Renjun seizes the opportunity and tackles her. "CHENLE, USE YOUR ELEMENTAL" he shouts in Chinese. Chenle's face lights up. He manipulates a piece of the ground to rise from the ground in a shape of a dagger to cut the ropes around his hands. He rushes over to Donghyuck with the rock and cuts the latter's ropes. "So you can do that, but you can't land a rock without smashing the object its landing on??" the older asks amused. </p><p>In the meanwhile, Eunbyul throws Renjun off of him and gets up from the ground. "Why you little..." Before she can get to him, Renjun creates a force field around himself and tramples her over. "How can you do that?? You're human!" Renjun pops his force field and turns. "I've been asking the same question myself madam" he says, giving a mocking bow. </p><p>Donghyuck and Chenle rushes over to Jeno and the person holding him. Donghyuck punches the guy in the gut and slaps him to the ground with a hunk of water. Chenle manages to get the leash and muffle off of the wolf to set him free. Jeno shakes his head then tackles the guy Jaemin was fighting. "Thanks dude!" Jaemin says.</p><p>Eunbyul had watched it all, and is furious. She gets up and tries to charge at Jeno but is tackled by a boar from behind. She hits her head on the hard street and falls unconscious.  </p><p>"You got her Boris!" Jisung yells not from afar. The boar snorts and jumps around. Mark and Jisung run up to their friends with a big smile. "Sorry we were late, we got the message from a mouse nearby you guys and we tried to come as fast as we can with reinforcements" Mark says. After he explains, Robert and a couple of other ducks came rushing with him but they all slow down upon seeing the bodies laying on the road. "Since when did you become a Pokemon trainer??" Donghyuck jokes. </p><p>Jeno turns back into his human form. He starts panting from the amount of energy he had used. "Are you ok?" Renjun asks concerned. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you guys ok?" he asks. He scans his friends for any injuries they might've adorned. Chenle and Donghyuck had burnt marks on their wrists. Renjun had a cut near his lip and on his forehead along with his cut finger. Jaemin, was in the worse state and had bruises on his face and body along with a cut on his cheek. Jeno groans and rubs his face. "Forget the fucking evidence let's go back to the hospital to get you guys treated." The group nods and starts walking to the car. </p><p>Evidence.. The ball! </p><p>Renjun raises his eyebrows and starts looking for the orange ball. Luckily, he found it untouched on the side walk. He rushes over to the ball and picks it up. He then runs after the group and walks with Jaemin, who was waiting for him to come with. </p><p>.</p><p>The car ride to the hospital was once again silent, but due to a more serious reason. </p><p>Everyone wasn't in the mood to crack any jokes or say something. Robert, who had flew from the dorm sat quietly in Mark's lap like the good little duck he was. Jeno especially, didn't want to talk and tries to take a little nap, eyes furrowed, arms crossed. </p><p>"Oh my! What happened to you?" Professor Qian says. He was visiting his best friend of 25 years at the hospital. He and Doyoung didn't expect to see some of the boys, specially his students, to come in with cuts and bruises. Both men get up and rush to assist them. "Doyoung where's the first aid kit?" Professor Qian asks. Doyoung wordlessly points to his desk. He scans Jaemin's face to count how many bruises and cuts were on the younger's face. "Hyung I'm fine" Jaemin says, emotionless. The doctor then turns to Renjun and Chenle and his shocked by the cuts on Renjun's face and the burns on Chenle's wrists. "What happened to you guys??" he asks, leading them to the coffee table. </p><p>"My fucking pack happened" Jeno deadpans. Doyoung and Professor Qian look at the werewolf with shock. Jeno had never swore like that before. "Are you guys ok?" Professor Qian asks Jisung and Mark. They nod and grabs the bandages to help with the medical care. Robert jumps out of Mark's arms and goes to take a seat at the table. "Jeno come here, you have a burn around your neck." Renjun, raises his eyebrows and turns. Jeno had covered his neck with his jacket in the car. He was hiding it from his friends. "Jeno" Doyoung scolds. The younger eventually gives in and takes a seat next to Jaemin. "Explain to us detail by detail of what happened" the doctor says, touching up Jaemin's cut.</p><p>.</p><p>Doyoung didn't even pay attention to the evidence that the boys had brought and sent them home. </p><p>That didn't stop Jaemin from theorizing though. </p><p>"Get some rest please!" Renjun whines. It was 9pm and Jaemin was still staring at his white board that once again was filled with red string, magnets, and pictures of the evidence they gathered today. </p><p>The ball, a drawing that was ripped in half, and a imperishable rose. </p><p>The door bell rings and taking Renjun's attention away from his bruised roommate. He opens it and is faced with a annoyed Jeno and a determined Donghyuck with Robert in his hands. </p><p>"Jeno wants a hug!" </p><p>"No I don't."</p><p>"Yes you do!" Donghyuck says, glaring at his roommate. "I can give you a hug" Renjun says, holding his arms out. Jeno shakes his head and starts to walk away only to be grabbed by Robert biting his sleeve. "Hey! Why did you bring the duck??" </p><p>"Why DO you have the duck?" Renjun asks. Robert shakes out of Donghyuck's arms and walks into the dorm room. "Mark hyung couldn't play with him because he's too busy studying for that exam he forgot existed. Also Robert wants to play but Geran was busy sleeping." </p><p>"Then you two help me" The trio turns and watches Jaemin coming into the living room, setting down his white board and books on the coffee table. "Oh no you don't, you people need to get some rest!" Renjun says. </p><p>"Renjun, technically speaking you should get rest too since you were thrown onto concrete" Donghyuck says. </p><p>"I am resting"</p><p>"No he isn't, he was finishing homework and was getting a head start on a essay that's due in a month." Renjun glares at the vampire sitting with Robert on the couch, looking through evidence on the board. "We're going in" Donghyuck says, dragging in Jeno with him. Renjun only sighs and closes the door. Jeno doesn't say anything and only plops his body on the floor in front of the table. "Ok what do we got brobros?" the merman exclaims. In the middle of explaining, Renjun notices Jeno's behavior. He was still down after the incident with Eunbyul. </p><p>"So I was thinking-" Jaemin stops talking and looks away from the board. Donghyuck raises an brow and shifts his attention to Renjun and Jeno. Renjun was comforting Jeno by hugging him. "You said this would help him right?" Renjun asks innocently. Jaemin tenses. Donghyuck starts to coo at his friends and joins in on the hug. "Aweee, we want you to feel better Jeno bear" he says, squeezing Jeno as tight as he can. </p><p>"Ok.. I'm good now.. can't... BREATHE." </p><p>The two let go of the wolf to let him catch some air. After his breathing goes back to normal, he gives a small smile to his friends. "Thank guys. I had something on my mind that was bothering me." Jaemin frowns. "Jen, you can tell us" he says to his best friend. "It's ok, we're ready to talk whenever you need it." Robert quacks and jumps down from the couch to Jeno's lap. The wolf laughs and pets the duck on the head gently. "Well.. I guess I'm just bothered by the whole pack thing that happened today. They've threatened me that they'd hurt you guys before, but because they never acted on them. I thought they were all empty threats. Now I don't know what to do.. I don't want you guys to get hurt." Jaemin gets up from his seat on the couch and goes to sit next to Jeno. He puts his arm around his shoulders and smiles. "Don't worry bud, we're the Dream team. No one is going to get through us. We solved an unknown and unsolved murder mystery just yesterday! We've been strong since middle school bro." Jaemin says. Jeno gives a short chuckle and looks up at the vampire. "Thanks Jaemin." Jaemin smiles and pats Jeno's back. </p><p>"I have a question though."</p><p>Jeno laughs. "Go ahead Renjun." </p><p>"If your pack doesn't like you, why are there only three of them attacking you?" he asks. "Those three are the children of the pack leader" Jeno answers. "Now that I think about it, no one else in my pack really cares that I hang out with two vampires, a merman, a fae, a leprechaun, and now-" he gestures to Renjun. "-a human. They're just afraid of what those three and their dad will do to them. It's not a fun pack." </p><p>"Eunbyul is badass though." Donghyuck says, leaning against the couch. "She's honestly the one that's doing most of the work. That's what I call middle child power. Like literally, all Taeseok can do is slap people in the face and call them a peasant." The group laugh at his joke. "Yeah, but Sungjoon is the one we gotta worry about. He may be younger then us, but he's no joke" Jeno adds on after. "How old is he?" Renjun asks. Jeno looks up at the ceiling and thinks. "Maybe the same age as Jisung or Chenle?" </p><p>"Oh my god, that's like a baby. We're being chased around by a baby!" Jaemin explains. The boys laugh once more, slowly lifting the sad and moody atmosphere. "I really wish I could just quit this pack and join another one" Jeno says after the laughter dies down. "Why can't you?" Renjun asks. "Lots of legal stuff, plus my parents would never allow it. They're too scared of the pack leader, which is so frustrating. They say power can control the mass population of a snap of a finger. My pack is the literal definition of that." </p><p>The group goes quiet again. Jeno clears his throat and grabs the white board. "So what are we looking at?" He looks at the pictures Jaemin took of on the board. The vampire couldn't grab the real ones since Doyoung hurried them out to go home, so he tried to take as many pictures as he could without the doctor knowing. Jeno scans the board, then focuses his attention on the picture of the ball. "Hey... I know that ball.." The boys look at Jeno with interest. "I used to have this ball when I was a kid!" </p><p>"Yeah, I'm pretty sure all of us did Jen. Well except Renjun, that ball is specially made for Neo City kids" Jaemin says. "No, no like I literally used to own this ball as a kid. It went missing when..." </p><p>"Sungjoon.. took it.." </p><p>.</p><p>Jeno, Donghyuck, Renjun, and Jaemin immediately went to the hospital to check out the ball the morning after. It turns out it WAS Jeno's ball. Underneath a clump of vines was a name written in sharpie with the lettlers "L". "E", "J", "N", and "O".</p><p>"How did it end up with the spirit?" Renjun asks. "I don't know, but that means this human was in Neo City when he was a kid. Do you remember playing with any human kids when you were younger?" Jaemin asks Jeno. The latter shakes his head. "No I didn't, I would've been killed if that were the case. No human kids were allowed in my pack's neighborhood so that would be impossible." A light bulb goes off in Renjun's head. He takes out the drawing that was ripped in half from the box. A picture of a boy in a green shirt, blue pants, and white shoes smiled at him happily with a bright sun and green grass in the background. In the corner was a "You did well!" stamp. "Do you recognize this picture?" Renjun asks, handing the drawing over to the wolf. Jeno once again shakes his head, but furrows his eyebrows at the drawing. "No.. but that stamp isn't from Neo City." Donghyuck takes a look at the drawing and points at it. "Oh yeah! The Neo City versions of these stamps usually have fae and fairies, not a human boy and girl." </p><p>"So that would mean this drawing is from-" </p><p>"Seoul. It's from Seoul" Jaemin finishes. He takes out the rose, and sighs. "But what could this mean?? Did the spirit have a lover in Neo City or something?" He turns to Jeno. "Did anyone in your pack date a human?" </p><p>"At 6 years old?" Donghyuck questions. Jaemin shrugs. "Hey I had a partner when I was five. Well.. never mind. Did anyone have one?" Jeno audibly says no this time. A knock on the door is heard. It was Doyoung's warning to tell to get to class. </p><p>.</p><p>"Excuse me!" Renjun yells. He picks up a piece of paper that was fallen on the ground. "I think you dropped this!" The person who dropped the paper turns around. He was short, was wearing a simple white tee with black pants and had his black hair neatly combed to the right. He looks at the paper. His eyes momentarily widen before going back to their cold stance. As he is walking back to grab the paper from Renjun, Donghyuck tugs on the latter's sleeve as a warning of some kind. Renjun doesn't say anything and simply stands still, holding the paper out. The guy, without saying thank you, snatches the paper from his hand and walks off. "Geez, that was a bit rude" Renjun mumbles. Donghyuck nudges him with his elbow. "Ow what?" he says. "THAT'S Park Sungjoon!!" Donghyuck whisper shouts. Renjun's eyes grow big and looks back at the boy walking further away from them. </p><p>Jeno was coming to meet them, and was walking from the other side. He gives a eye smile upon seeing his friends, but immediately drops it when he sees Sungjoon. Sungjoon and Jeno stop in their paths. They stare at each other for a while before Jeno tries to walk past the younger. Sungjoon however, stops him by grabbing his arm. Without looking at the older's face, he whispers something to him before letting him go and walking off. Jeno, stands still as Sungjoon walks off. His face changes from anger, to fury to neutral before catching up with Renjun and Donghyuck. "What did he say to you?" Renjun asks. </p><p>"He told me that there's a pack meeting that I can't miss. Guess I won't be going to the hospital with you guys today." Donghyuck and Renjun frown, but they don't say anything. They understand that if he doesn't go to that meeting, someone is going to get murked. "Just call us if something happens" Renjun says. Jeno thins his lips then nods his head towards the other direction. "Let's go I'm getting hungry" he says, giving a smile. Though this smile, didn't come with his usual eye crescents. </p><p>.</p><p>The group, excluding Jeno, all met at the hospital at Doyoung's office. Jaemin had brought out a white board (no one really knows where it came from) to put theories and pictures on to brain storm. </p><p>"That's what we got from this morning" Jaemin explains, clicking and uncapping the cap of the marker. "Wait so this human came into Neo City? How did that happen?" Chenle exclaims. "If a human is special enough-" Doyoung nods his head towards Renjun as an example. "-they can enter Neo City. It can be either on purpose or on accident." </p><p>"What would be the situation if it was on accident?" Jisung asks. Doyoung thinks, referring back to his past knowledge of humans and their connection to Neo City. "Well one situation could be that their soulmate might be in Neo City." </p><p>"Ugh, what are we living in, a G rated fanfic on a03?" Donghyuck groans. "Nah I think it's more like a T rated one" Mark replies. Doyoung rolls his eyes and keeps talking. "Fate has a unique hand in life. It needs to come up with ways to connect soulmates somehow, so-" He grabs the rose and begins to observe. "-I believe, this person may have accidentally stumbled upon Neo City due to fate dragging him to his unknown lover or best friend." </p><p>"So that means. Someone in Jeno's pack may have been this person's soulmate" Jaemin replies. Renjun stares at the pictures on the board and the evidence laid out on the coffee table. His brain starts to turn the gears and sparks of his mind, slapping his brain cells to get to work. </p><p>Light bulb. </p><p>"Didn't Jeno say that.. Sungjoon took that ball from him?" The group turns to Renjun, their interest grabbed. "He mention last night that this ball went missing after Sungjoon took it from him when he was little." Jisung's eyes widen. Chenle and Donghyuck share glances with each other and Mark. Jaemin taps the marker on his chin. "So that would mean that Sungjoon..." </p><p>"...Was the soulmate." Mark finishes. "Wait, wouldn't that mean that we need to scope out Jeno's neighborhood?" Chenle asks. Doyoung nods his head, but his face was tense. "Yes, but it's too dangerous. Considering the fact they held you captive like that means they consider you guys as their enemy." Then, the doctor's face lights up. "Though, I do have a spy within this pack." </p><p>"You do??" the group yells in unison. </p><p>Doyoung nods and smiles. "You guys know Johnny hyung right?" </p><p>.</p><p>Doyoung then sent the group to search Cherry Park and Seoul. "The spirit may have died in the park or some sort of forest in Seoul" he had said. "Split into two groups and search." </p><p>Mark, Jisung, and Donghyuck went to Seoul while Chenle, Renjun, and Jaemin searched through Cherry Park. </p><p>"Keep your eye out for anything that looks like leaves flying in the wind. Plant spirits like to fly pretty casually, so if you scare it we'll loose it" Jaemin advises. The three split up to search the large park for any more clues or the spirit itself. Renjun began asking the people around the park if they had seen the spirit and tries to look in the air for any leaves floating in the air. </p><p>"You know you and I are kind of the same you know" Renjun starts to speak. He had walked into a quiet part of the park, so he had allowed himself to talk to the spirit without being judged. "I too have a plant elemental. See?" He grows a pink flower on the ground. "It's a Moon Cherry Blossom! One of my favorites" As he says his final words, Renjun feels a sudden wind fly past him. He freezes. He turns and sees a swirl of leaves flying around in a light green cloud. </p><p>"Wow, it's.. so pretty" he thinks. The green cloud not only had leaves, but assorted flowers in it as well. Renjun had learned that the flowers are only there when the spirit is lost. They keep the spirit happy and sane. He never really seen a plant spirit during a hunt because all the plant spirits he saw were in the containment room. </p><p>The plant spirit turns towards Renjun's direction. It stops upon seeing the boy who stared at the spirit in awe. Renjun stops staring and makes an O with his mouth. He crouches on the ground and makes another Moon flower, this time it was more pink and lively, much like the one he's growing in his room. "See, we're the same" he whispers. The plant spirit floats down to Renjun and stares at the Moon flower. It pauses, as if it's thinking. It spins in a circle before taking off into the other direction. "Wait!" Renjun shouts. He goes after the spirit. </p><p>When he catches up with it, the spirit stood still, as if it waited for him, then takes off once again. Renjun follows it. "Is it taking me somewhere?" He follows it until he is in a secluded part of the park. This part of the park was messy. Vines spilled everywhere. Trees covered the space from any source of light. Renjun turns on the flashlight of his phone and looks for the spirit. "Um.. are you here?" He spots a green cloud from the corner of his eye and whips his head. Renjun runs up to the spirit. The spirit disappears, as soon as Renjun comes up to it. </p><p>"Drats" he whispers. He looks around the area he's in, using his phone as a light source. Renjun looks at the ground and notices a gigantic lump of leaves and vines. "Is something under there?" he thinks. He takes a closer observation, then screams. </p><p>Renjun sees a foot sticking out of the pile.</p><p>It was a dead body.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>5 points for whoever guesses I based Sungjoon off of.</p><p>Hint: It's a character Lee Seunggi had played in one of his dramas.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. 10. Plant</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jeno confronts his pack leader, and the Dreamies save a spirit.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>
    <i>TW!!: MENTIONS OF A DEAD BODY AND BEHAVIOR THAT IS SIMILAR TO AN ANXIETY ATTACK. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.</i>
  </b>
</p><p>Sirens ring from the outside of the park. The police quickly come through the park's hidden area, trampling on vines and flowers with flash lights in their hands. Jaemin and Chenle rush to the area as soon as they heard the news. "Excuse me boys" a paramedic says. The body was under a white cloth on a stretcher, carefully being transported by the paramedics to the ambulance. Through the crowd of police and detectives, Renjun was sitting on a log, back turned towards the pair. </p><p>"Renjun!"</p><p>The smaller doesn't turn around. Jaemin tries to get to him but is stopped by a policeman. "Please, officer that's my friend" he pleads. The officer turns towards Renjun and let's both Chenle and Jaemin in through the yellow tape. "Gege!" Chenle says. Renjun looks up from the ground and gives his didi a tiny smile. "Oh hey, did you find anything?" </p><p>"Forget the freaking evidence are you ok? Did you get hurt?" Chenle says. Renjun nods but turns his head back to the leaf pile that covered the body. Chenle and Jaemin take seats on the log, each on one side of Renjun. </p><p>"Huang!" </p><p>Donghyuck, Mark, Jisung, and Doyoung come through the tape, careful of not bumping into any police officers or evidence. "Hey, hey are you ok?" Doyoung asks. Renjun nods. Donghyuck hugs his best friend. </p><p>"Hey Dr. Kim." </p><p>"Oh hi Yoonoh, What happened?" A detective sighs and looks back at the leaf pile. "Your assistant found a dead body under the leaf pile over there. He said a plant spirit had led him to here." Jaemin looks at the shorter. Renjun doesn't budge and keeps looking at the pile. "We're going to need to ask him a few questions as a witness, but it seems like he's not in the best condition right now. Have you been chasing the spirit?.." </p><p>Renjun doesn't listen from there. Everything just becomes a blur of sounds. His mind was blank, his heart was racing. Jaemin scoots closer to the shorter and wraps an arm around his shoulders. He tucks Renjun's head into the crook of his neck and combs through his hair. It started to make Renjun very sleepy. Slowly, his eyes started to fall, and just like that he was asleep. </p><p>.</p><p>
  <i>The boy combs through his hair. "Don't worry, I'll help you find your parents." His tears slow to a stop as the boy relaxes him.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"Thank you" he whispers.</i>
</p><p>.</p><p>Doyoung sent the group back home after that. When they got to the dorms, Renjun went straight to his room and closed the door. He flops onto his bed and hugs his pillow. </p><p>He doesn't think, he doesn't say anything.</p><p>He hears bath water start to run in the bathroom. Footsteps are heard, padding up to Renjun's door. </p><p>Jaemin knocks on the door. </p><p>"Hey.. come take a bath first" he says gently. Renjun turns over and faces the wall. He hears Jaemin sigh. The running water stops and it drains. The shower is turned on in replace of it. </p><p>After a few minutes, Jaemin knocks and pokes his head into Renjun's room. It was dark as the smaller didn't even bother to turn the light on. Though, Renjun wasn't sleeping, and Jaemin knew that. "Come take a shower Jun, you've been running around a fucking forest today" The human doesn't respond. The wolf walks to his bed and sits down. "I have something for you." Renjun hears clinking of a tin open. He turns and sees the candy tin in Jaemin's hands. "Take a piece" Jaemin says setting the tin softly on the bed. Renjun turns over at stares at the tin. </p><p>He sighs and takes a yellow piece. Jaemin chuckles softly and lays down. The tin sat in between them, separating the two away from each other. </p><p>"Why did the spirit want me to see that? Was it possibly because he died in secret?" Renjun whispers. Jaemin bites his lips and looks at the tin. "Possibly, maybe it trusted you as a fellow elemental." Renjun sighs and takes another piece. Jaemin takes a green one of his own and pops it into his mouth. The two lay together for a while, occasionally taking a piece of candy. "Ok, that's enough I'm going to run out if we keep doing this" Jaemin laughs. Renjun laughs quietly with him, getting up from the bed at the same time as the wolf. "I'll go take a shower" he says. Jaemin nods and walks with him out of his room. "Oh, Renjun." </p><p>"Hm?" </p><p>"If you need my hoodie, it's on my bed." </p><p>Renjun smiles. "Thank you Jaemin." </p><p>.</p><p>Injun coughs as he runs through the forest. "Where are you??" he shouts. He spots a small body laying on the ground. His eyes widen. He runs over to the body and shakes it. "Wake up! Wake</p><p>
  <i>up!" he screams. Tears start to run down his face as he continuously shakes the body.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>He decides it's no use and tries to carry it out of the burning forest. "Please.. don't die on me.. You promised that.. that"</i>
</p><p>Renjun springs up, sweating and panting. He jumps out of his bed and runs to the kitchen. He downs a cup of water and tries to take a deep breath. "Jun?" Renjun jolts and turns. A sleepy Jaemin emerges out of his room, confused. Once he sees the scared look on his roommate's face he dashes over. "Are you ok? What's wrong?" </p><p>"I-I-I" Streams of tears were running down his face. Jaemin hugs the smaller. "Shhh, it's ok. I'm here, I'm right here." </p><p>With Jaemin combing through his hair, Renjun starts his breathing exercises. "4 seconds, 7 seconds, 8. 4 seconds, 7 seconds, 8" he repeats in his mind. Slowly, he starts to get sleepy in Jaemin's arms and bit by bit he falls asleep. </p><p>.</p><p>
  <i>Injun sighs in the arms of the boy.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"It's.. so warm."</i>
</p><p>.</p><p>Jeno walks into the hospital the next day with a small cut on his cheek and lip. </p><p>"What happened?" Donghyuck yells running up to the wolf. "Ah, I got slapped by my pack leader" Jeno says sheepishly. "He didn't like hearing the fact that I was standing up for you guys so he slapped me a couple of times." Everyone in the room frowns. Jeno rubs the back of his neck and goes to sit down with Donghyuck. "I heard the news" Jeno says, trying to change the subject."Yes, here's an update on that" Doyoung starts. "The police force decided to work with us on catching who was the murderer and to identify the body. I've already sent pictures in of our evidence. All we have to do is identify the spirit, they identify the killer." Doyoung turns to Renjun with a soft expression. "Are you ok Renjun? If you're not ready to testify then don't rush yourself. We know it must've been shocking to find that body." The doctor's pager starts to beep in his pocket. He takes it out and views the caller ID. "Oh that's Johnny hyung" he says. Doyoung gets up from the coffee table and walks over to his desk to grab his phone. </p><p>"Jeno" The wolf shifts his attention to Renjun. "You know you can tell us everything, right?" Jeno laughs and gives him a small smile. "I did tell you everything though!" </p><p>"But that wasn't everything" Renjun rebuts. "You're acting like it's nothing, but we all know it's not nothing Jen." Jaemin finishes. Jeno drops his smile and replaces it with a frown. He sighs and puts his head in his hands. "Ok fine, I'm not ok. The truth is that the event I went to wasn't a meeting. It was trial." The group doesn't say anything and lets Jeno continue. "Eunbyul ratted me out to her dad so he called me in and yelled at me. He didn't even give me a chance to explain myself and just straight up slapped me in front of the rest of my pack. My parents tried to intervene but they got pushed down by those stupid guards you guys saw the other day." He turns to Chenle. "You must get this right? Feeling suffocated because of an hierarchy. Not being able to explain yourself just because you're just a lower life form." Chenle nods. "Of course hyung. Being compared to someone and being expected to be like them. Not being able to argue because you'll get scolded. It's all familiar to me, you're not alone hyung" Chenle smiles. Jeno gives the younger a small smile in return and wraps his arms around his shoulders. "Thanks Chenle, and thanks guys for listening." </p><p>"Ok, thanks hyung I'll make sure to buy you food tonight. Yes, I will buy you pork belly don't worry, I promise." Doyoung hangs up the phone and walks over to the coffee table. "Good news, Johnny hyung did some digging and was able to record something." </p><p>"Yup! That's our hyung!" Jeno gleams. "What's the info he gathered?" Renjun asks the doctor. Doyoung gives a bunny like smile. "Turns out that Sungjoon did have a little friend when he was young." </p><p>.</p><p>No one didn't think their theory was actually true.</p><p>Especially Jeno. </p><p>"How? Huh? WHAT?" he takes a piece of Jaemin's takoyaki and pops it into his mouth. "Hey!" Jaemin protests. "I'll pay for it later. I'm stressed." Jeno replies and pops another piece into his mouth. "Jeno! I hope you're not eating anyone else's food!" Chef Nakamoto yells from the kitchen. Jeno freezes and rushes into the kitchen. "I really think that Johnny hyung got the wrong info. Sungjoon and the word "human" is an impossible sentence that no one can come up with" Donghyuck says, chewing through his ramen.</p><p>"You just said it in one sentence though." </p><p>"Oh shut up Jisung." </p><p>Renjun giggles at his friends antics. He slurps some noodles into his mouth and takes a sip of the broth. The bell of the restaurant rings, signaling someone's entry. </p><p>"Yoonoh!" </p><p>The group faces the kitchen and sees Detective Jung walking up to say hi to Chef Nakamoto. "Hey hyung! It's been a while!" </p><p>"Yeah it has! You never come to visit me!" the chef pouts. Dectective Jung laughs in response. "Yeah sorry, I've just been so busy. Cases are tough ones you know." Jeno walks out of the kitchen in his dog form to his friend's table. He looks at Renjun and nods his head towards Detective Jung. "Yeah I know, I should testify pretty soon" Renjun says. "I wonder if I could now, I haven't really seen much, so I doubt I could be much of help" he adds on after, looking at the detective. "Jeno! I need you to check on Detective Seo's order! Detective Jung is here to pick it up!" Chef Nakamoto yells. Jeno nods his head and walks back into the kitchen to work on the hungry detectives late night meal, that may or may not could have been the only food food they have eaten the entire day. Detective Jung smiles as he spots the boys at their table and walks over. </p><p>"Hey guys! You doing alright?" </p><p>"Yeah, we're doing ok. What about you Detective?" Jaemin responds. Detective Jung sighs then gives a small laugh. "It's a.. it's a lot, but I'm sure since we are working together we can solve the case." Renjun swallows his piece of takoyaki and shifts his body to the looming detective over him. "Gah he's really tall" he thinks. Renjun despises anyone over 6ft (he sometimes narrows his eyes at Jisung and Jeno out of spite for being so tall). "Uh, Detective? Do you think I can give my witness account now?" Detective Jung replaces his sad smile with a bright one and nods his head. "Of course! Are you comfortable enough to recall?" Detective Jung says. Renjun nods his head and turns his chair to face Detective Jung. The latter pulls out a chair of his own and sits down, taking out a notepad and a pen for notes. "Ok Renjun, tell me everything start to finish." </p><p>.</p><p>Detective Jung would thank Renjun for the details minutes later and pick up his ramen bowls for his team. "Wait, Detective!" Detective Jung turns before he walks out of the door. Chef Nakamoto had given Jeno a break at this time, and Jeno happily walks out of the kitchen and sits on Renjun's seat (still as a dog of course). "Can.. you help us?" Renjun asks. He bit his lip and nervously waited for the Detective's response. Detective Jung tilts his head. "Well I can try? Not a a great spirit hunter like you guys are so-" </p><p>"No, no.. I, we need you to scare somebody." </p><p>The room freezes</p><p>Jisung chokes on his water. Donghyuck drops his ramen spoon into his bowl and turns around. Mark sadly looks at his ruined white shirt, spotted with soup that was splashed out by Donghyuck's spoon. </p><p>Detective Jung, clearly surprised and a little concerned, only stares at Renjun with large eyes. "I uh, hate to break it to you Renjun.. I'm not those cops on TV who have the guns and the charisma (everyone scoffed at the charisma part. They all knew Detective Jung was handsome... even the Detective himself)." Renjun shakes his head and waves in his hands. "No, no, no I didn't meant THREATEN someone, dear moomin mama no. I meant can you assist us in interrogating someone. This person is kind of dangerous, and we need back up in case of an emergency." </p><p>"And.. who is this someone we need to interrogate?" Jeno questions, back in his human form. Detective Jung puts the ramen on a separate table, not able to hold the heavy bowls for longer. Renjun turns and looks at Jeno. He eyes Jaemin, the latter equally confused, then back at Jeno. "Sungjoon of course. Who else?" A clank is heard in the kitchen, grabbing the interest of the everyone in the room. Chef comes out of the kitchen and crosses his arms over his chest. "I rather not Renjun" he says. "Yeah, the kid may be young but he's no joke" Jeno says getting up from his chair. </p><p>"Tell me then, did he physically hurt anyone?" </p><p>"No" </p><p>"Did he manipulate anyone?" </p><p>"No but-" </p><p>"Then what is so fearsome about this kid?" </p><p>"He has enough power to kill, Renjun. We are going to solve this without needing to interfere with him" Jeno replies sternly, clenching his fists. That was not enough to phase the human though. Renjun turns to Detective Jung. "I would like to report a case of pack abuse." Detective Jung raises his eyebrows. Jeno tries to stop Renjun, but Jaemin stops prevents it. Chef Nakamoto rolls his eyes and takes a seat at the group's table. "Pack abuse? Are you talking about their pack?" Detective Jung asks. Renjun nods his head and takes a deep breath to calm himself. "The leader hurt my friend and left bruises and cuts on his face" he says. He points to Jeno's face that was plastered in band aids. "His daughter had attacked us with other wolves to threaten Jeno to stay away from us just because of our species. I got launched into the road, Donghyuck and Chenle was bound with fire magic infused rope leaving burn marks on their wrists, and Jaemin was beaten up with bruises all over his body and cuts on his face." Renjun turns the Chef Nakamoto, eyebrows furrowed , eyes lit with anger and determination. "And I believe you have an account as well Chef?" Chef Nakamoto frowns and avoids eye contact. Renjun notices a faint bruise on the wolf's cheek as he turned his face. "What the heck are you trying to do Huang Renjun" Jeno deadpans, also furious. Renjun sighs and looks at his friends sympathetically. "Are you really going to put up with this? This is really bad Jeno. Just because these people have power over you guys doesn't mean you have to back down." </p><p>"WELL THEN WHAT CAN I DO??" Jeno shouts. Tears start to form in the corner of his eyes. "EVEN IF I TRY, THEY'LL JUST HURT ME, OR ANYONE I LOVE" Jeno takes a deep breath and laughs pitifully. "They're not normal people Renjun. They know what they are doing, and it's working." Chef Nakamoto wipes a tear from his eye and gets up from his chair to go back into the kitchen. "We can't change anything." </p><p>"Yes we can hyung" Chenle says. He gets up from his chair and puts a hand on Jeno's shoulder. "Hyung I used to think that my family will never let me be. That they're just going to send me away to Hanoi or Taiwan or something to work as an secretary for some other family member. I had no hope, but look what happened. I matured and thought "No, this my life. No one is going to control MY life."' Jaemin gets up from his seat and hugs his best friend. "Chenle's right Jeno" he says, letting go. "This is YOUR life. No one should be obligated to control it." </p><p>The rest of the group get up from their seats. "Yeah, and if they hurt you then we're going to kick their asses!" Donghyuck yells, doing a Bruce Lee shout after along with a martial arts pose. Jeno laughs and wipes a tear from his eye. "You can cry hyung it's ok." Jisung smiles. Mark pats Jeno's back and smiles. "Let it out buddy, let it out" he whispers. </p><p>Jeno does. He lets it go. He lets go of the pain and agony he had been holding for the past 22 years. One by one, his friends hug him and give him the love he deserves. Chef Nakamoto comes out of the kitchen and smiles. Both him and Detective Jung join the hug. </p><p>"Thank you" Jeno whispers. </p><p>The night ends with a silent, but comfortable ride back to the dorms in Mark's car. </p><p>.</p><p>The group decided to get the interrogation over with and contacted Sungjoon right away.</p><p>Though of course Sungjoon doesn't give in quite easily. </p><p>"Why is he so persistent? Chenle groans. Renjun, Chenle, Jeno, and Donghyuck had tried to call Sungjoon 38 times, but the latter would either hang up, not pick up, or flat out just say "no" and then hang up. "Dang it he blocked me, Renjun your turn now." </p><p>The boy also had blocked almost everyone in the room. </p><p>Renjun sighs and takes out his phone. "K, give me his number." He dials the number on his phone and calls the stubborn wolf. Surprisingly, Sungjoon picks up at the first couple of rings. </p><p>"What do you people want?? I'm studying!" </p><p>"WAIT SUNGJOON A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME JUST A SHORT WITTLE MOMENT." </p><p>Sungjoon sighs on the other side of the line. "You've got a minute."</p><p>Renjun takes a deep breath and proceeds to spit his words like he's rapping an Agust D verse. </p><p>"We need you to come in for questioning because you are now connected to a official murder case that involves the dead body that was found in Cherry Park so you CANNOT REFUSE BECAUSE THIS IS A OFFICIAL CASE AND IT IS THE LAW SO PARK SUNGJOON COME TO THIS INTERROGATION OR SO HELP ME-" </p><p>"Ok, ok, you've got two minutes. I literally could not understand a word you were saying" Sungjoon groans. Renjun catches his breath, ignoring the looks his friends are giving and starts back up again. "Park Sungjoon, we need you to come in for interrogation because you are connected to the Cherry Park murder case." The line goes silent for a second. Then Renjun hears a sigh. "And.. why the heck would I do that?" </p><p>"Because this is an official murder case." </p><p>"And why are you calling me to tell me this? Are you a police officer?" </p><p>Renjun stays silent. He thins his lips and tries to think of a answer to say. Sungjoon scoffs. "Look.. whoever you are, you do realize I have the right to refuse interrogation correct? I don't HAVE to come in. So if you excuse me I need to go-" </p><p>"What ball did you play with as a kid?" </p><p>The line goes silent once again. Renjun puts the call on speaker phone. "I beg your pardon?" Sungjoon asks, clearly caught off guard. "What kind of toys did you play with as a kid? Robots? Legos?.. Balls?" </p><p>"Did you perhaps play with a orange ball belonging to Lee Jeno?" Sungjoon doesn't speak for a while. "Mr. Park? Are you still there?" Sound did not come from the other side of the line. Then finally: "Where do you want me to meet you." </p><p>.</p><p>Chenle arranged the interrogation to be at Feihong's store. They figured Sungjoon wouldn't come if it were to be a police station, so the group held the interrogation in the break room which Renjun thought was to be the perfect make shift room for such thing. </p><p>In the room sat Detective Jung on one side of the table and Sungjoon on the other. Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin, and Donghyuck stood in the back, holding the evidence they found.</p><p>"Ok Mr. Park, I know you don't want to be here so let's cooperate to make this short ok?" Detective Jung says. Sungjoon doesn't answer and only stares at the Detective with mundane eyes. There was no emotions on this boy's face. It scared the hell out of Renjun. </p><p>Detective Jung sighs and opens his notepad. "An autopsy had told us this boy was around the age of 19-20 years old. He may have passed a year or two ago." He looks up. "So how old are you now?" </p><p>"21" </p><p>Detective Jung nods and writes in his notepad. "So this boy is around your age."</p><p>"Did you have any problems against any of your friends in high school?" he asks.</p><p>"I didn't have any friends in high school." Sungjoon replies.</p><p>"Did you hate anyone in high school?" </p><p>"No" </p><p>Detective Jung finishes writing in his notepad and makes direct eye contact with the younger. "Did you have any human friends in high school?" Sungjoon freezes. He stops breathing for a moment, then continues. The detective notices this. Despite Sungjoon's cold behavior, Detective Jung knew this boy knew something.  "So? Did you?" Sungjoon clenches the fabric on his lap and squares his shoulders. "May I ask how I am related to this case?" he says instead. Detective Jung raises his eyebrows. He didn't think the boy would actually speak to him, nonetheless actually ask a question. </p><p>"We have gather evidence that leads to you" Renjun says. Sungjoon lets go of his pants and puts is arms on the table. "Then show me what they are." Renjun comes out of the dark with a audio recorder Johnny had given to him prior. He presses the play button: </p><p>
  <i>"So he would sneak out every night?"</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"Yes, I don't know why though."</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"Come on, you would know, you're his brother."</i>
</p><p>No one speaks for a moment, then Taeseok speaks again. </p><p>
  <i>"Fine. He had a human friend when he was younger. Saying he was his soulmate or something. But you didn't hear that from me!"</i>
</p><p>The audio stops playing. Sungjoon's stature doesn't change. The only thing that had changed was the anger on his face. "How do you know Taeseok's not lying? That stupid punk doesn't know when to shut up so he can just be blabbering about anything to keep him out from harms way." Renjun makes eye contact with Sungjoon. His eyes were now lit with fire and fury, much different from the ice cold expression he had held earlier. "If you knew he was lying, you wouldn't be reacting like this would you?" </p><p>"Reacting like what? Like I'm frustrated? Of course I'm frustrated! You lured me into a case that I have nothing to do with!" </p><p>"We only had asked you a few questions, why are you so worked up?" </p><p>"I'M NOT WORKED UP!" Sungjoon shouts. He slams the table in anger, creating a crack on the surface that could potentially break the table in half if hit again. Renjun doesn't back down though, neither does his friends. "I'm pretty sure if you were worked up you wouldn't be breaking that precious table" Donghyuck adds on. Jaemin takes a seat next to Detective Jung and takes out the child drawing and puts it on the table. "Yesterday, Renjun had told me you dropped a piece of paper on the ground and aggressively ripped it out of his hand. Knowing your nature, you wouldn't have done that and instead just take it. So tell me Park-" Jaemin leans into the table closer to the younger. "-what was that piece of paper? Is it perhaps the other half of this drawing?" Sungjoon gives a scoff and raises an eyebrow. "Do you believe in every word people say Pointy Teeth? I don't remember that interaction happening." </p><p>"I do" Donghyuck says, standing behind Jaemin with his arms crossed. "I do too" Renjun says after. Detective Jung gets up from the table and lets Renjun sit next to Jaemin. Renjun opens the drawing, revealing the happy boy. He points to the "you did well!" stamp in the corner. "This stamp isn't from here, it's from Seoul meaning a human must've drawn this" he points out. "The body we found was a human boy." Renjun turns to Detective Jung. "Was this identity ever revealed?" The detective shakes his head. "The only human identity we have sure in the records is yours" he replies. Satisfied with the answer, Renjun faces Sungjoon and opens his hand out. "Hand over the drawing please." </p><p>Sungjoon doesn't budge. He stares at Renjun, tongue in cheek and arms tightly crossed. He scoffs once again and stands up from his seat. "I'm wasting my time with this. I'm leaving." </p><p>"I'm afraid you can't do that, this is an official investigation" Detective Jung says. </p><p>"Why the heck do you have kids interrogating me?" </p><p>"Watch it, we're older then you punk" Donghyuck says. Sungjoon eyes Donghyuck. "Do you ever contribute anything other then smartass remarks? Just so you know, no one thinks you're funny." </p><p>"He makes a point though. You have no right to call us "kids" nor can you leave." </p><p>"Then I plead the Fifth!"</p><p>"You're not being arrested nor are we in America" Detective Jung replies. Sungjoon groans in frustration and sits back down onto his seat. "These are very flimsy pieces of evidence, in what way do I relate to these? So what if the dude was the same age as me! What are you going to arrest every other 21 year old in Neo City? In the Gyeonggi Province? IN THE COUNTRY??" </p><p>"We have audio saying you had befriended a human when you were younger!" Jaemin says. "Taeseok cannot be trusted, that dude lies like every 2 seconds." Sungjoon yells back. Jaemin stands up and leans onto the poor table on his hands. "Well you're just making a claim aren't you? That's just your own opinion" he says. Sungjoon copies his actions and glares into Jaemin's eyes. "Like you people are any better!" </p><p>"Guys calm down for a bit-" </p><p>"Let me leave!" </p><p>"No we are not going to let you leave so just sit down and-" </p><p>"Why would I ever listen to you sashimi?" </p><p>"Hey! Stop being stubborn and sit down!" </p><p>"I'm being stubborn? Says the people who are too stubborn to let me leave!" </p><p>In the midst of the yelling, a ball is heard bouncing up and down in the corner. It catches the attention of everyone in the room and stops the arguing. Jeno comes out of the dark with a the ball in his hand. He nods at Renjun and Jaemin to get out of the chairs and they comply. He silently takes a seat at the table and moves the drawing aside. The ball is placed where the drawing used to be. "You know, when you asked to borrow my ball I didn't think I'd get to have it again after waiting 17 years by finding it in the stream of District U." Sungjoon doesn't reply and only stares at the ball with wide eyes. He slowly starts to sit back down, eyes not leaving the ball. Jeno sighs and rolls the ball to Sungjoon once the latter sat down. </p><p>"Sungjoon we're not accusing you of murder nor are we going to arrest you." Jeno pauses. "Nor are we going to tell your dad about this." Sungjoon takes his eyes off of the ball and at Jeno. His eyes had soften into a sadder look, almost as if he was going to cry. "A plant spirit we were chasing down had led Renjun to the body of this boy. We think it could be his ghost. If enough evidence is gathered, we can revive him and give him a second chance at life." The younger's eyes grow wider, but he doesn't say anything. "It's ok Sungjoon, just let it out. This is a safe space" Jeno whispers. Sungjoon closes his eyes and sighs. "Hyung.. you know I try not to harass you as much.. but it's not like I stop the harassing either. It's because.. I know what it's like to have a friend that isn't welcome to our pack." He opens his eyes and looks at the ball. He smiles. "I used to play with this ball with my best friend. His name was Dohyun. I remember the first time when I met him he told me he came here through a window of a coffee shop his mom worked at. I didn't believe him but when he accidentally cut his finger on a branch and I smelled his blood I realized he was a human." Sungjoon digs through the pocket of his jacket and takes out the piece of paper he had dropped earlier. He takes the drawing on the table and connects it with his paper. The green shirt boy now had his friend back, both happy and glad. "He made this drawing in school and gave it to me. Hence the stamp. As for the ball, we did accidentally launched it into the stream of District U.. sorry hyung." Jeno gives a small smile and motions Renjun to give him the rose. Once retrieved he puts it on the table. "And this?" </p><p>Sungjoon's breath hitches and a tear rolls down his face. "When.. Dohyun said he needed to leave for a while, he told me he will come back with a rose on coming of age day. I guess.. he really did tried to give it to me. I was so mad that he didn't came, I threw away the rose I was going to give to him into the trash and ripped the drawing in half." He sighs. "I'm glad I kept the other half though. This half made sure to find its way back to his brother." Sungjoon looks up at Jeno, tears shining in his eyes. "Dohyun.. he couldn't have.." Jeno smiles sadly and squeezes Sungjoon's hand. "We'll get to the bottom of this, and get Dohyun back." </p><p>.</p><p>Sure, they secured the identity of the spirit. </p><p>But let's be honest here. The boys aren't being close to done. They still need to find where the spirit is. </p><p>So there they are. Sitting in Renjun's and Jaemin's dorm opening and closing books, searching though Google Maps, and chugging down coffee like its baby food (Jisung and Chenle had chosen to drink hot coco instead). "Did you find anything Jaem?" asks Renjun as he pulls his hair in frustration. The boy feels like he could explode in any second. Jaemin closes a book and throws it onto the coffee table. "If I had found something I would've screamed in joy" he sighs. Jeno follows suit and grabs a pillow to hug. "Why don't we switch topic and try find out who the killer is instead?" </p><p>"We can't Jeno, that's the job of the detectives" Renjun says, typing another address on Google Maps. It was a junkyard, no plant spirit would ever spend time in a area filled with rusty old cars and metal. He closes his laptop and joins Jeno on the couch, grabbing a pillow of his own to hug. "Well wouldn't we be doing them a favor if we helped them? Plus we are not getting anywhere with the location of the spirit" Donghyuck says. Eventually, the group collectively agreed to try solve the murder case instead.</p><p>Of course, nothing comes up. </p><p>They were just going to give up and call it day, when Jeno's phone suddenly rings. "Hello?" </p><p>"Hyung!" he hears Sungjoon exclaim on the other side of the line. Jeno puts the call on speaker phone for everyone to hear and puts the phone on the coffee table. "You ok Sungjoon?" he asks. There was silence, then what sounded like panting and running on a grassy area. "Sungjoon? Are you ok? What happened?" Jeno asks again, more panicked. "Don't worry I'm fine" Sungjoon replies after calming down. "I just over heard something that my dad's goons were talking about." No one moves in the room as they await Sungjoon's answer. "I-I think.. dad could've- *gasp*" The call hangs up. Jeno grabs his phone and dashes towards to door. "Jeno wait!" Mark calls out. Jeno stops in his tracks and turns to his friends. They all stare at him with worry. He only nods his head towards the door and heads out. The rest follow him out, grabbing the essentials they need. </p><p>.</p><p>Jeno's pack lives in a strange place. They reside in the near the street markets of District U between the public and the old discarded buildings that loomed over the hill people usually resided on. Mark parks his car at the street market's parking lot. Before they all pile out, they first had to come up with a plan. "We can't just waltz into there, it's the property of a pack" Mark says. "I've asked Johnny hyung to take three of us in disguised as people helping out Jungwoo hyung's sandwich shop and Jeno had called Yuta hyung to take the other four as employees in his ramen van to "make plans for the shop." So pick your roles people." </p><p>"I'll go with Johnny hyung with Renjun. We helped Jungwoo hyung before so why not" Donghyuck says, putting his hand up. "Don't remind me of that time Hyuck. Anyone else wanna join?" Renjun asks. Jisung raises his hand. "Great, Johnny hyung will meet you at the hotteok stand. The rest of us will meet Yuta hyung at the old bookstore. Everyone clear?" </p><p>Everyone was clear and got to bushiness. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun, Donghyuck, and Jisung met Johnny at a small hotteok stand that too be honest, seemed a little under budget to be a real stand. "Look I didn't have time to build this thing, Mark called me only 20 minutes ago" Johnny says, taking down the cardboard revealing a portable stove balancing on top of a bunch of books. "Did you sell anything?" Donghyuck asks, staring at the bright red portable stove. "Surprisingly, people actually came to the stand. A police officer came by and asked to buy one without asking for my permit." Johnny folds the cardboard back into a box with tape and puts the stove and books in. "There's extra boxes right near you guys, if we need to trick them then we gotta bring in some props." The trio turn and are met with prebuilt boxes sitting on the sidewalk. It's amazing how no one in the street market didn't question them. </p><p>.</p><p>"Hey Mingyu" The young security guard looks up from his phone and smiles at Johnny from the guard box. "Hey hyung!" </p><p>"Jungwoo wanted me to store some stuff from his store at my place, so I brought some of his employees with me to help." Mingyu switches his eyes towards the black windows of Johnny's van and squints. Renjun gulps nervously, not giving the security guard a glance. He then turns back to Johnny and smiles. "Ok hyung, how many employees did you bring?" </p><p>"Three" </p><p>The security guard writes something on a note pad then grabs three lanyards from a box. "Here are their visitor's pass" he says, handing the passes over. Johnny thanks the guard and takes the passes. He quickly tries to roll up his window.</p><p>"WAIT!" </p><p>Everyone in the car freezes. Johnny rolls the window back down and is met with Mingyu's inquisitive face. "I've got a question for you hyung" he says. "No! We can't be caught this early!" Renjun thinks. Donghyuck slides down in his seat. Jisung face palms. "S-sure, what is it Mings?" Johnny asks. Mingyu takes a moment to observes Johnny's face then opens his mouth. "Why DO you have that gigantic fridge?" </p><p>A breath of relief is passed through Renjun's mouth. Johnny freezes with his mouth hung open but quickly recollects himself. "I just do bro, the more space you have the more food you can fit in!" Mingyu makes an O with his mouth and opens the gate into the neighborhood. "Huh, I'll take that in mind, thanks hyung!" Johnny gives a salute and rolls up his window. He starts to drive onto the pack's ground. Renjun takes a look out of the window. It looked like your average suburban neighborhood. The same old houses lined up next together with the same old road looping around the property like a snake. He takes a look at the hill that sits at the end of the neighborhood and recognizes the slightly larger house as the leader's house. "I'll drive you guys to my place and you guys can start snooping around there. You gotta help me with some of these books though, they are a bit heavy." </p><p>"Gotchu hyung, we gotchu. Also how big is your fridge?" Donghyuck says. "10 feet, we're here." Johnny parks the car which is now filled with Donghyuck's confused noises ("WHY DO YOU NEED A 10 FEET FRIDGE??" "Geez you sound just like Doyoung") into his driveway. "At least put like three boxes each into my house. If anyone asks why you're here, just say I sent you to Yuta's house. He lives pretty far from me. Oh! and also don't forget to tell them you're a Osaka Ramen and Takoyaki employee NOT a Sandwiches ASAP one." Johnny opens the trunk of his van and climbs out. The trio follows suit and proceed to follow the plan. Once they put at least three boxes each into the house, they go off into the neighborhood to look for Sungjoon. "Should we try that big house over there?" Jisung asks pointing at the house on the hill. "He wouldn't be at home if he suddenly disappeared like that" Renjun whispers. He looks to his right then to his left. Legit, all of these houses were identical and impossible to differentiate. "Geez is this a neighborhood or a maze?" Donghyuck exclaims. They stood at a cross of roads. They can either choose to go left, right, or head straight. Renjun squints into the road going straight. He looks at the road on the left. They all looked the same with their rows of houses and plain front yards. "Guys we're just going to have to eavesdrop some conversations-" </p><p>Renjun turns to his friends, but they were gone. </p><p>. </p><p>"Come on, pick up, pick up!" Renjun whispers in Chinese. He decided to head straight. In the midst of his desperate phone call to Donghyuck, he searches for any guards or signs of Sungjoon among the houses. "Why aren't you picking UP!?!?!" Renjun yells in Chinese. He attempts to contact Jisung when a someone taps on his shoulder. He whips his body, meeting with the concerned face of a lady. "Are you ok young man?" she asks. Renjun gulps. "Ramen, ramen, ramen, no sandwiches Renjun, you don't even KNOW what a sandwich is." </p><p>"Um.. uh" </p><p>The lady's face changes from concern to suspicion. "Wait, you aren't from here are you? How did you get in?" she asks. Renjun locks his phone and takes a deep breath. "Uh.. well you see I was uh supposed to help Chef Nakamoto with his deliveries, so Johnny hyung gave me a ride here to find his house but I.. uh got lost." The lady narrows her eyes on Renjun's face. Then she gives a small smile. "Aw you poor thing, I know this neighborhood can be confusing for a new comer like you, come! I'll show you where Yuta lives. He's a nice kid, I'm sure he'll appreciate your efforts of coming all the way here to help him" she says. "Yeah.. can't wait to help!" Renjun laughs. He follows the lady down a road and a couple of turns. There in the distance was Yuta, and the rest of the gang (with the exception of Donghyuck and Jisung of course) talking in a circle on Yuta's doorstep. "Yuta!" the lady calls out. Yuta turns his head towards Renjun's direction and freezes. He slowly stands up from his steps and walks to the lady. "Hi Mrs. Kim! Is there something wrong?" he asks, a little panicked. "Yes! You need to give better directions to your employees! I almost got an heart attack thinking this young man was an intruder!" Yuta turns to Renjun and raises an eyebrow. "Yeah Chef!.. As your EMPLOYEE, you need to do a better job as MY BOSS!" Renjun says, clenching his teeth. Yuta only stays still, eyes shifting back and forth between the lady and Renjun.</p><p>"BOB OH MY GOD!!" Mark suddenly yells. He runs up to Renjun and hugs him. "Yo! You were late that's why we left you back at 127!" Mark exchanges glances with Yuta, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jeno. Jeno suddenly gives a weak laugh and walks up to Renjun with Jaemin and Chenle. "Y-yeah, B-Bob! We were just talking about you!" he says. "Thank you Mrs. Kim, we'll take... Bob in and we'll start putting together our deliveries." The lady smiles. "No problem Yuta! Have nice day boys!" </p><p>"T-thank you!"</p><p>"No problem Bob!" </p><p>After the woman was out of sight, Renjun slowly turns to Mark with a raised eyebrow. "Bob? Really?" he asks. Mark shrugs his shoulders. "What? I couldn't have just said "Renjun" that could possibly blow our cover!" Yuta shakes his head and pats both of them on the back. "Let's take this inside." </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun was worried. What if Donghyuck and Jisung were kidnapped by the Parks? What if they get hurt? In the middle of his thoughts, the doorbell rings. Yuta gets up from the couch and peeks through the peep hole. "Are you serious" he groans, catching the attention of the other boys. He opens the door and pushes the guests into the house. There Donghyuck and Jisung were, unharmed and definitely not kidnapped. "Oh my god you guys SCARED ME!" Renjun says coming to them to hug them. "Where did you guys go?" Mark asks and looks down. "Why do you have a little girl with you?" Said little girl crosses her arms and pouts at Mark. "Candy!" </p><p>"She told us she knew where Sungjoon was last seen but won't tell us until we give her candy" Jisung sighs, coming to join Chenle on the couch. "Kyungmi..." Yuta starts. "I want candy!" Kyungmi says, stomping her foot. "Yeah I know, but you're gonna have to work with us here-" </p><p>"CANDY!" </p><p>"I don't have candy! You can have frozen octopus so just chew on that for while ok??" Yuta says. "Dude!" Donghyuck whispers. Renjun shakes his head and comes up to Kyungmi and kneels down. "Look, we don't have candy.. but you wanna have something that's prettier?" Kyungmi tilts her head and nods. Renjun smiles then takes a leave from Yuta's plant. He puts it between his hands and closes his eyes. Suddenly, a green cloud covers his hand. A small daisy with a stem emerges from the small leaf between Renjun's hands. After it is complete, the human hands Kyungmi the white flower, smiling softly at the surprised expression on her face. Renjun had expected her to take it and spill the beans, but she instead asks a question. "Are you the green ghost?" Renjun's smile falters a bit. "Green ghost?" he asks. Kyungmi nods and points to a certain direction in the house. "The green ghost always likes to give me flowers and it always likes to hang out at my house" she says.</p><p>"Your house?" </p><p>"Kyungmi is the youngest child of the Parks" Jeno says. "The green ghost must be the spirit then. Dohyun might've hung around that house to look for Sungjoon" Renjun thinks. He shakes his head and takes another leaf from Yuta's plant. "I'm not, but I am his friend. How about I make you a princess crown. In return you can tell us about the green ghost. How about it?" Kyungmi taps her finger on her chin and pretends to think. "Deal!" she says and brings out her hand. Renjun accepts it and shakes it. "Ok Kyungmi, tell those oppas over there while I make your crown ok?" Kyungmi nods and follows Jeno to the couch. "Is it ok I take the leaves of your plant Chef?" Yuta shrugs his shoulders. "Eh, it's kind of dying anyway, I don't mind." Perfect, Renjun then works to make a nice crown for the younger flower princess. </p><p>.</p><p>"There! There!" Kyungmi points. She lets go of Renjun's hand and runs up to the gate of her house. According to Kyungmi, Sungjoon was last seen near the gates of the house, then was taken by her father's guards. "This is where you saw your brother?" Jeno asks. Kyungmi nods her head and stares up at the keypad to the gate. "I don't know that though" she says pointing at it. "Let's guess then" Donghyuck says coming up to the keypad and starts to press some combinations. "Jeno what year was your pack founded?" </p><p>"1957" </p><p>Donghyuck presses the numbers onto the pad. It didn't work. "What month and day?" Chenle asks. "October 31st." </p><p>"Your pack was founded on Halloween?" Renjun asks, fixing Kyungmi's crown. "Yeah, it's so cliche" Jeno sighs. Donghyuck types the date in but it doesn't accept. "We got one more chance before this thing goes into alarm mode" he says. </p><p>"What are you people doing here?" </p><p>The group turns and sees Taeseok and Eunbyul staring at them from a distance. In a instant, Eunbyul runs up to them and grabs Kyungmi away from Renjun. "Don't touch my sister you filthy human!" she shouts. "Ow! Ow! Stop it unni!" Kyungmi says, trying to wiggling out of her sister's grasp. "No! He's a human! Kyungmi!" Kyungmi stops wiggling and looks at Renjun. Then she bites the arm of her sister and runs up to him. "OW! What the heck!" Eunbyul exclaims. "He's a good human! He gave me this and he's friends with the green ghost!" Kyungmi says hiding behind Renjun. "I told you that green ghost is nothing but air, come back here!" Renjun shields Kyungmi with his arm and backs up. "Where's Sungjoon?" Eunbyul takes her focus off of Kyungmi and glares at Renjun back. "How should I know? That brat is always studying at some weird ass places that I don't care about. Now give me back my sister!" </p><p>"Park Eunbyul, we demand to see Sungjoon" Jeno says. Taeseok slaps Jeno into the gate, making Kyungmi scream in fear. "Who are you demanding punk? We own you!" Taeseok shouts. Jeno gets up and grabs Taeseok's collar. Eunbyul tries to stop him, but Jaemin and Mark stops her from interfering by blocking. Jeno stares at Taeseok in the eyes, clenching his collar until his knuckles were white. Then he sighs and lets go. Taeseok quickly steps back and fixes his shirt. "You, you!" he says pointing at Jeno. "Look your brother is in trouble. Your family many not be happy go lucky like you think it is" Jeno says. "We are a happy family and we don't need YOU to say it isn't" Eunbyul growls. Jeno turns to the older and crosses his arms. "Really? Then why the heck is Kyungmi refusing to go with her own sister after being told the guy she chooses to hide behind is a human?" </p><p>"She was bribed with those stupid flowers punk." </p><p>"Or is it because you never give her the love and attention she needs as a 6 year old? You just give her candy just to make her stay quiet and to leave you alone. You never gave her something like a flower or even played with her!" Jeno shouts. Eunbyul glares and pushes Jeno to the ground. "That's not true! What proof do you have?? HUH??!?!" The younger gets up from the ground and points to Kyungmi. "THEN WHY IS SHE LOOKING AT YOU LIKE THAT?" Eunbyul turns to Kyungmi and gasps. The little girl was on the verge of crying and was grabbing Renjun's pants like her life depended on it. "K-Kyungmi" Eunbyul whispers, running up to her sister. Kyungmi reacts by crying and hugging Renjun's legs. She turns her face away from her sister. Eunbyul pauses in her tracks. She kneels on the ground and starts to let go some tears of her own. Renjun frowns a bit and kneels to Kyungmi's level. The little girl hangs onto Renjun's neck and starts to crying into his shoulder. "Kyungmi it's ok" Renjun says. He pulls Kyungmi away from him and wipes her tears. "Eunbyul loves you Kyungmi. She will never want to hurt you." Kyungmi hiccups and coughs a few times. "Look, she's crying because you are" Renjun says. Kyungmi turns to Eunbyul, who was deep in her tears. "You wanna see your unni happy right?" Kyungmi nods, coughing and hiccuping. "Then give her a biiiig hug" Renjun says, stretching his arms out wide. Kyungmi nods again and starts to slowly pad her way to her sister. Eunbyul lifts her head up and is met with her sister's tear filled face. "Oh Kyungmi.. I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry... I've been a bad sister pushing you away like that" Eunbyul cries. Kyungmi and Eunbyul hold on to each other, crying. "We've been so caught up with father's expectations, we pushed away what really mattered to us the most" Taeseok says, coming up next to Jeno. They watched the two sisters on the ground, holding each other as if the other will disappear if they let go. </p><p>"We didn't.. realize what was important to us. The only thing that mattered was our father's expectations" Taeseok gives a weak laugh. "And now I think about it, I know why you hang out with the people you aren't supposed to be with. Your friends.. they must be important to you yes?" Jeno nods. "Very" he replies. Taeseok only sighs and looks at the floor. "I'm truly sorry Jeno. We're all sorry." Jeno bites his bottom lip. Renjun assumes that he didn't think this would actually happen. After years being hassled, Jeno probably never thought of the day when two people from the Park family would apologize. "I can only accept if you help us find Sungjoon. We need to find him so we can revive Dohyun, you must know how important he was to him right?" Taeseok nods, but looks straight back up. "Dohyun?" </p><p>"We can explain later" Jeno says, putting his hands into his pockets. "Then let's go in and find Sunghoon quickly" Eunbyul says. She punches in the code for the gate and opens it. "Come, Taeseok will show you where you might find him. I need to put this little princess down for a nap." Jeno smiles gently. "Thank you." </p><p>"Don't thank us. This is what we can do to make up for 20 years of hurt and anger." </p><p>.</p><p>When they walked into the house, Eunbyul and Kyungmi turned to the left and the boys went to the right in search for Sungjoon. "Most likely father may have put him in the meeting room" Taeseok says. They turn each corner going into a new hallway. If you thought the neighborhood was a maze, wait till you go into the home of the Parks. It was a mess of a house with twisting hallways and millions of doors. Renjun feels like he's in the Winchester Mystery Mansion rather then a pack leader's house. "AHH!" Taeseok shouts. He is tackled by a wolf to the ground. His head hits a wall upon falling hard, knocking him unconscious. </p><p>"Who told you that you people can come into my house??!" Jeno's pack leader shouts. He stands at the end of the hallway with his entourage of wolf guards coming to attack the group. Jeno turns into his wolf form. Jaemin and Mark stand their ground. Donghyuck, Jisung, and Chenle ready their elementals and Renjun grabs a potion ball from his belt. "Where's Sungjoon!?" Jaemin yells. The pack leader raises an eyebrow and starts to laugh. "Since when have you cared about Sungjoon? Weren't you the people who took my son into question for the murder of the man in the park?" </p><p>"Well aren't you the guy who kidnapped his own son to keep quiet?" Donghyuck shouts. A guard tackles Donghyuck to the ground. "You speak too much Donghyuck" the pack leader says, before running away to another hallway. The group begins to fight off the guards, too occupied to catch the pack leader. Renjun fights two guards, throwing a potion at them that glues them to the ground. Renjun tries to get another potion from his belt but is met with only the leather. "Drats" he whispers and fights off another guard, encasing him in a shield and throwing him at the other wolves coming at him. As Renjun had thrown the guard, a green glow zips past him. Renjun looks up and sees the plant spirit fly through the hallway. It turns around and looks at Renjun with curiosity. Once it recognizes the human, it flies to him, motioning for him and Jeno to follow it before flying off. Renjun complies by tapping and waving at Jeno and running to catch up with the spirit. Jeno looks back at Jaemin with confusion before running off. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun and Jeno keep following the spirit through a series of other hallways. "Where is it taking us?" Renjun asks. Jeno, now in wolf form, barks in response. The spirit leads them down a stair case to what seems like a basement door. Renjun tries to open it but it is locked. "Find a key Jeno" he says. Jeno turns back to his human form and begins to search for a key to the door. They search through drawers and boxes in the abandoned part of the house. The spirit makes their lives easier by circling a certain box under a shelf. Renjun catches the action and grabs the box. "Jeno!" Jeno stops what he's doing and jogs over. Renjun opens the box and gasps at the contents inside. Photos of young Sungjoon and Dohyun from afar, a piece of paper of what seemed like a schedule that had tracked Sungjoon's disappearance to play with Dohyun. The most chilling of all, a gun snuggled between other papers and pictures. "No way.." Renjun says. "Sungjoon's dad didn't-" </p><p>"Here's the key" Jeno says. He grabs a black key and goes to the door. Renjun quickly closes the box and puts it back to make sure not to leave any of their tracks behind. Jeno opens the door and covers his nose. "Ugh! That stinks!" Renjun peers inside and almost gags. The smell of rotting meat blasts the two in the face from the dark room. In there sits a prison cell and a interrogation table. There are chains, a straw mat covering the ground of the cell, and a unconscious Sungjoon sitting against the cell wall. "Sungjoon!" Jeno yells and runs into the room. Renjun follows after with the spirit and looks around. The room was old with paint chipping off of the wall and the dusty floor filled with cob webs and mysterious stains. Jeno uses the key he used to open the door of the room to unlock the cell. "Huh, lazy much?" Jeno asks out loud. He pockets the key and runs inside of the cell and tries to shake Sungjoon awake. "Sungjoon, Sungjoon!" he says. The boy doesn't respond, but he is breathing. Jeno picks him up and carries him on his back. "Come on we need to call Detective Jung stat." </p><p>"Hold it right there." </p><p>Jeno and Renjun freeze as the pack leader closes the door of the room. He begins to clap very slowly, his smile frighteningly growing larger by each smack of his hands. "I need to say Jeno, I am impressed. It feels like yesterday when you stared at me with those scared eyes after you had brought your vampire friend to play in the neighborhood. But now, you're breaking in to my house and discovering my holding room!" Jeno adjusts Sungjoon on his back and glares at the pack leader. "Did you kill Dohyun?" </p><p>"Now why would I answer that?" </p><p>"DID YOU KILL HIM YOU HAG?!?" </p><p>"Why you" The pack leader turns into his wolf self and headbutts Jeno into the wall, dropping Sungjoon onto the ground. The leader turns back into his human form and grabs Jeno's throat. "Of course I had to kill him! A god damn human was playing around with MY SON!! I will NOT tolerate any lower life form to even BREATHE the same air as my son!" </p><p>"Well guess what? You're breathing the same air as a "lower life form" right now!" The pack leader let's go of Jeno's throat. The young wolf coughs and gasps for air. "Renjun.. no" he wheezes. The pack leader gets up from the ground and starts to walk towards Renjun. The human gets ready to fight. He looks around the room for any possible item to throw at the leader. "The table!" he thinks. Without a word, the leader turns into a wolf and heads for Renjun. Renjun dodges and grabs the table with his telekinesis and throws it at the large wolf. </p><p>It misses.  </p><p>"Shit!" The wolf looks back at the table and gives a creepy smile. He uses his super speed to charge at Renjun but is tackled down by wolf Jeno. Renjun looks at the back of the room and catches the sight of Sungjoon. He dashes over and picks the kid up and puts his arms around his shoulders. The spirit flies over to the pair, swirling around them in concern. "He'll be fine Dohyun, but we need to get him to the hospital fast and defeat Mr. Park!" Jeno in the meanwhile, wrestles his pack leader while they are both wolves. His pack leader, turns into his human form and throws Jeno against the wall. </p><p>"JENO!" </p><p>"YOU'RE WEAK! YOU'RE ALL WEAK!!" the pack leader shouts. Jeno turns back into his human floor, groaning from the impact. "Don't you get it!? I only did what I did to protect our pack! These humans, these LOWER BEINGS, all they do is hurt and destroy! You need me! YOU NEED ME TO SURVIVE!!" </p><p>"No..I don't" </p><p>Slowly, Jeno manages to rise from the flower. His healing abilities heals the bruise on his back, allowing him to channel more energy to fight. "I don't need to, no one needs you. All you do is overpower us with your imagination." The pack leader growls. "Lies!" The younger wolf scoffs. "You think I'm lying? Ask anyone in this stupid pack, and they'll tell you that you are the reason why we are suffering." Renjun watches as Jeno straightens himself up. Then, he starts to slowly walk towards the leader, fury in his eyes. "You are the reason why everyone has to live in fear. YOU are the reason why you're family is broken." Jeno stops right in front of the pack leader. He stares in him in the eye. "YOU are the reason why I have to believe that everything in this world will just fall apart. I'm done thinking like that. I'm done quivering under YOUR POWER!!" </p><p>Jeno turns into his wolf form and headbutts the man into the wall. It was the strongest attack Renjun has seen Jeno ever do. The pack leader despite being thrown against the wall severely, gets back up and turns into a wolf himself. The pack leader runs to attack Jeno, but the younger dodges it and pushes the older into the other wall. He turns back into a human and turns to Renjun. "Get me a rope of some kind!" he yells out. Renjun looks up at the plant spirit lingering above him. "You wouldn't mind creating a bush out of nowhere would you?" he asks. The plant spirit nods, goes down and circles the floor, creating a small bush. Renjun takes the branches of the bush and grows it out into a vine. He makes sure it's strong enough to hold someone together, then rips it off of the plant. </p><p>"Jeno!" he yells. The wolf pushes the pack leader one more time and turns towards the human. Renjun tosses the rope at the werewolf, who catches it and presses his pack leader into the wall. "You're days of tyranny are over Park Myungchul" he growls. The pack leader growls back, coming to tackle the younger back. Renjun stops him, by encasing him into a shield and throwing him back into the wall. Jeno gives a thank you look towards Renjun and ties the pack leader who is now out of energy. He picks the old wolf up and tosses him into the prison that once held Sungjoon, then closes and locks the door. </p><p>"Don't worry about your son by the way. We'll make sure he'll get the care he needs at the hospital. Something, he didn't get as a child." </p><p>.</p><p>The group celebrates their victory at a pork belly restaurant. They had dropped off Sungjoon and Taeseok at the hospital and called Detective Jung to search the Park house, who found and arrested the leader while grabbing the box of evidence sitting right in front of the door to the basement room. As for Dohyun, he is resting nicely in his own container, making friends with the spirits next door. </p><p>"You did great guys!" Johnny cheers. He chugs his beer then chokes from the amount of liquid going down his throat making the table laugh. "Yeah, you guys did wonderful. Not only were you guys able to find the spirit, you also caught the killer and solved a case!" Doyoung says. He raises his glass. "To the Dream Team!" </p><p>"To the Dream Team!" the group cheers and clinks their glasses. In the middle of laughter, Jaemin throws his arms around his best friend and smiles. "How are you doing Jen?" he asks. Jeno finishes chewing a piece of pork belly and swallows it. "I'm doing great! I am so happy that our pack will be able to get the freedom it deserves." He looks at his friends. "It's all thanks to you guys. I would've not done this without you." </p><p>"We all did it with you and your determination Jeno" Renjun smiles. Jeno smiles back and steals a piece of kimchee from Donghyuck's plate. "Hey!" the latter laughs and tries to steal a piece of meat from Jeno's plate. Their friends laugh at their antics, ending the night with joy and the satisfaction of successfully catching a missing spirit and once again, solving a murder.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If this chapter, or any of the other chapters feels too rushed please let me know! I was reading through this chapter, and realized that parts of Jeno's conflict and resolution just speed through, so if it bothers you as much as it did for me, please let me know. Solutions on how to make the scenes better are also welcomed. ^^</p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. 11. The World's First Vampire Doctor in Progress</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mark experiences what every doctor experiences in their work life: mistakes.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HELLOWW! </p>
<p>I hope you guys had a wonderful Halloween and that you guys got a shit ton of candy (within COVID-19 boundaries of course lolol)! </p>
<p>I made something! Hurry! </p>
<p>That something is a Spotify playlist made specifically for this fic. You can listen to it while you read it, or just on a daily basis doing..I don't know baking or uh..drinking water. </p>
<p>(Stay hydrated!) </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The link to the playlist will be in this Archive Work under the chapter tilted "What Goes on in Neo City, Stays in Neo City." </p>
<p>The link will be here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27343084/chapters/66809284</p>
<p>Once again thank you guys for reading and I hope you enjoy this playlist!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>
    <i>TW!!: THERE IS A LOT OF SWEARING IN THIS CHAPTER. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!</i>
  </b>
</p>
<p>The elevator dings, signaling Renjun's arrival to his floor. He walks out with a plastic bag filled with potion ingredients and Mark's graduation gift parts in one hand and a take out bag full of fried chicken in the other. He shifts the crafts bag to his other hand to grab his keys, and opens the door to his dorm. When he opens it, he's startled by Robert standing in the doorway staring at him. </p>
<p>"You ok Robert?" Robert quacks and waddles back to the couch. Renjun goes in and closes the door of the dorm. Jeno and Jaemin were staring at a tablet together in immense concentration. Renjun puts the chicken on the kitchen counter then goes into the living room to disturb Jaemin's and Jeno's focus. He takes out a bottle filled with garlic powder, knowing that both had sensitive noses, and opens it. "UGH!!" they both yell out in unison. Renjun laughs, holding his stomach with his hands. "RENJUN CLOSE THAT, OH GOD" Jaemin says, covering his nose. Jeno grabs a pillow next to him and smashes his face onto it. "Ok.. Sorry.. Sorry it's just.. that... HAHAHA YOU'RE FACES!!" Jaemin stands up to grab the garlic powder away from him but falls down in the midst of walking over to him. "HAHAHA SORRY SORRY I'LL CLOSE IT" Renjun laughs out once more. He closes the little bottle, tears coming out of his eyes and belly aching from laughing so much. "You're so evil" Jeno whines. Jaemin gets up from the ground and straightens his shirt. "Don't do that EVER again or your moomin painting gets it." </p>
<p>"You have a moomin painting?" Jeno asks. Renjun makes a fist at Jaemin's face and turns to Jeno. "Yeah, I've been working on it for months." He walks over to the coffee table with Jaemin and joins Jeno on the couch. "What were you guys working on any way?" he asks. "We were learning how to make a cake for Mark hyung" Jeno replies back. Ah that is right, it is their job to make the cake. </p>
<p>A month ago, the group had came together for a plan for Mark's graduation. Each person would take part of Mark's spectacular graduation party filled with gifts, a cake, and fun for the older. Jeno and Jaemin were in charge of making a cake, Jisung and Chenle were in charge of inviting guests, Renjun was in charge of crafting Mark hyung's gift, and Donghyuck was in charge of entertainment and decoration along with planning a trip to Vancouver during the summer.</p>
<p>"Why were you guys so immensely focused on the video?" Renjun asks. "Cause it's Mark hyung Renjun and this is his graduation party. We must make this the best event of his LIFE!" Jaemin shouts, fist in the air. </p>
<p>"How much coffee did he have?" </p>
<p>"4 shots"</p>
<p>"Huh a smaller amount then usual." </p>
<p>They sit in silence until Jeno asks Renjun a question. </p>
<p>"Hey Renjun" </p>
<p>"Yeah?" </p>
<p>"Who's this crab friend of yours?" </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"Did you really adopt the crab?" Donghyuck asks, putting up more fish food on the shelf. "Of course! Ever since I saw that her on the beach, I was wondering what happened to her. Now, what's a good enough tank that's cheap enough for me to use for Pangxie." Donghyuck rolls his eyes at Renjun and get's up. "Don't you have that fish tank sitting in your room?" </p>
<p>"That's for my potion plants."</p>
<p>"No the other one." </p>
<p>Renjun takes a moment to think back what junk was in his room. "Oh yeah! Then I'll just grab some sand from the beach for her." Donghyuck finishes checking off what items needed to be on the shelf and looks up at the human. "Where's the crab going to be while you get the supplies?" he asks. "Oh, Robert took her back at Mark hyung's place. Yukhei hyung has a little aquarium that his fish used to live in back in China. I still don't know why he only brought a tank to Korea." </p>
<p>"Yeah me too" Donghyuck sighs. Renjun looks at his friend with concern. "You ok?" Donghyuck nods. "Let's meet at the boba shop yeah? I can tell you and Sungie about it. Kinda need help with this one." Renjun gives an ok sign and watches Donghyuck walk off to the back room of the store. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Donghyuck would meet Renjun and Jisung at the boba store after his shift ended. Renjun noticed that his eyes were red and his hair was messy, probably from pulling and rubbing from stress. "Tell us what's wrong Donghyuck" Renjun says, once Jisung came out with Donghyuck's boba. "It's Mark hyung." </p>
<p>"Are you having trouble with the party hyung? Do you need help?" Jisung asks. Donghyuck shakes his head and smiles. "Thanks for the offer kiddo, but I'm fine with the party. I'm not fine with Mark hyung's mental health though. I know graduation is around the corner and all, but he's been so stressed lately and I don't think it's the homework that's stressing him out." Renjun nods in understatement, taking a sip from his drink. "Could it.. be related to becoming a doctor?" Donghyuck nods wordlessly. "Mark hyung never really talks about becoming a doctor to people other then us and the people in associated with his major. I guess the stigma of a vampire becoming a doctor is just too much for him." </p>
<p>"Oh yeah, he should be going to medical school soon" Renjun replies. "And a whole bunch of people will know his major thanks to graduation. They need to make his certificate and everything. I'm just hoping administration is kind to him." Donghyuck sighs and takes a sip from his drink. </p>
<p>"I hope, the whole world can be kind to him." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Renjun had learned when getting to know Mark that most doctors are usually ghosts and fae in Neo City. It is strange for a vampire to become a doctor. It is scary to a normal person in Neo City for a vampire to become a doctor. A person that sucks blood from every creature for sustenance doesn't seem the ideal figure for a person who works with blood and helps sick people in a hospital. Though Mark had his arguments. "Think about it! Vampires are able to smell bad blood in no time. They can diagnose diseases and possibly cure them thanks to their knowledge of blood" he had once said. That is why Mark is working to become a cardiovascular doctor and surgeon. To prove that the world that not every vampire is thirsty for the red material. Renjun believes him. Mark rarely drinks actual blood and has proved in the past to have great control over being hungry so naturally, Renjun never thought that Mark would get harassed for trying to become a doctor. He actually never seen the older being beat down for his dream. </p>
<p>Well, until now. </p>
<p>"Get that vampire away from my daughter!" a women shouts. She slaps Mark in the face and closes the door to the hospital room. "Mrs. Kwon! Mrs. Kwon!" Doyoung shouts from outside of the room. "Stay here" he tells Mark and opens the door to the room and goes inside. Donghyuck, Renjun, and Jisung rush over to Mark to make sure he was ok. "I'm fine guys it's ok" he laughs, rubbing his cheek. Donghyuck takes his hand and checks to see the damage on the older's face. "Hyuck I said I'm fine" Mark says while giggling, though there was a red mark on where the woman slapped him. </p>
<p>"How can you laugh in a situation like this??" Donghyuck screams. "That woman just slapped you!" Mark drops his smile into a frown. He sighs and rubs his neck. "Well.." </p>
<p>"Sorry about that Mark" Doyoung walks out of the room and closes the door. "I tried to get that woman to apologize but she won't budge" the doctor sighs. Renjun looks at the expression on Mark's face and raises an eyebrow. The face of the older was off, like he's hiding something. "What are you guys doing here? It's not time for you guys to come in yet" Doyoung asks, looking through some charts. "We came here to drop off Mark hyung's lunch" Donghyuck says. He brings up the red lunch bag for Doyoung to see. Then he turns to Mark and narrows his eyes. "Don't lie to me hyung" </p>
<p>"I'm fine, promise" Donghyuck gives Renjun and Jisung a look before slowly handing the lunch bag to Mark. The door to the room the lady was in opens. She walks out while talking on her phone, not giving a glance to the boys hanging around outside her room door. "I'm telling you Hyeji, this vampire actually tried to TOUCH my daughter! Can you believe it? A vampire becoming a heart doctor? Oh, this world is turning very scary." Donghyuck drops the lunch bag and tries to go after the lady, but Mark stops him. "I'll tell you guys when go to the lab. I promise" he whispers. He takes the lunch bag and thanks his boyfriend, then walks to the break room. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>It never came to mind that Renjun's friends had personal problems they are dealing with. </p>
<p>Don't get him wrong though, he knows they have SOMETHING they're fighting with, but it's never the first thing that comes into his mind when he sees his friends. They're always so jumpy and happy. At first glance you would think their life is very joyful. </p>
<p>Then Renjun finds out that Chenle was often ignored and looked down by his own family. </p>
<p>And that Jeno was oppressed by his pack leader. </p>
<p>Now, Renjun finds out that Mark has been dealing with speicisim (a form of racism but for species) since the beginning of his internship. </p>
<p>"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US THIS??" Donghyuck shouts. "It's my battle to fight" Mark says. He takes his last sips of tomato juice and goes to throw it away in the trash. "Still you could've asked us for assistance!" Donghyuck replies, getting up to follow the vampire to the trash can. Mark throws away the package and sighs. "Look, I've been doing fine for the past 22 years of my life. Plus you guys can't do anything about these comments. Doyoung hyung had tried a million times, but it takes more then just a pep talk to change the minds of these people." Mark's friends frown. Not because of Mark's stubbornness, but because it is true. Sometimes, you can't change people's opinions and a it's a thing you have to deal with. </p>
<p>That however, didn't stop them from arguing with him more. </p>
<p>"We may not be able to fight these people, but it's better to tell someone about their problems then just bottling up" Jeno frowns. Mark scoffs and turns to the werewolf. "Really? Then why didn't you tell us about your pack sooner?" Jeno opens his mouth but then closes it, not wanting to argue. "Look, I appreciate the concern, but there's really nothing I or you guys can do to stop this. It's going to resonate with me for the rest of my life and I'm ok with that." Mark grabs a clipboard sitting on the table and a pencil. "I'm going to check up on Dohyun and that ice spirit" he says and walks out the door without giving his friends a chance to speak. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"Renjunnn" </p>
<p>"In here!" </p>
<p>Jaemin walks into Renjun's room and is met with the latter sitting on the floor, using a glue gun to piece wood on wood. "Wow that guitar is looking pretty good!" Jaemin says, leaning against the doorway. "Thanks, I hadn't had the slightest idea on how to make this, so hearing that makes me swell" Renjun replies. He sighs and puts the glue gun in its stand. He turns to Jaemin and frowns. "Yeah, I'm not that happy about Mark hyung either" Jaemin says. Renjun sighs "It's frustrating because it's true. We can't do anything about his problem but it's still so.. so.." </p>
<p>"Problematic?" the wolf finishes.</p>
<p>Renjun nods his head and massages his neck. He's been looking down at the same piece of wood for the past hour without giving himself a break. "Take a break Renjun. Jeno and Donghyuck want to go to District Dream for some shaved ice. We can talk more about hyung then." Renjun gives an ok and starts to clean up his area. Jaemin gives a hand by picking up pieces of paper. In the midst of picking trash up, Renjun and Jaemin pause and look at each other. They were a inch apart, with barely enough room in between them. Renjun's face heats up. Jaemin's eyes widen. They sit like that for a while until Jaemin looses strength in his wrist and falls over. </p>
<p>"Oh geez are you ok?" Renjun asks. "Yup" Jaemin croaks out. </p>
<p>They cleaned everything up in silence. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"We are not getting the strawberry milk flavor." </p>
<p>"Oh come on! Get over your fear of cow juice and the seedy crunchy one and just have a tiny bite for once!" </p>
<p>Jaemin turns to Donghyuck with an unamused look on his face. "You calling it "cow juice" and "the seedy crunchy one" isn't helping." Jeno gives a small laugh and points at an item on the menu. "We'll have the red bean flavor with injulmi powder" he says with an eye smile. Johnny types in their order and gives the price. They all hand in their respective amounts to meet the total then go to sit on a beach right next to the stand that faces the beach. </p>
<p>"I'm worried guys" Donghyuck starts, looking out at the ocean. "We all are Hyuck" Renjun replies back. Donghyuck sighs in response and leans back in the bench letting his head hang on the back of it. "I really wish he would let us help him. Let him know he doesn't need to fight this battle alone." The group lets the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore and the talk of the tourists take over. They watch the sun dip down into the horizon, orange and purple spilling into the sky and into the emerald colored water. "We'll figure something out don't worry" Jeno says. "Yeah, for now let's focus on making hyung's graduation party the best one he has ever been to" Jaemin adds on. </p>
<p>"Guys! Your shaved ice is ready!" </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Renjun gulps at not only the scary expression on Doyoung's face, but also the dark and emotionless one on Mark's. "What. Happened." Doyoung says in a harsh tone. "Why did I get a call last night from Yoonoh that you four were at the police station for BEATING SOMEONE UP??" </p>
<p>         </p>
<p>
  <i>Last night at District Dream</i>
</p>
<p>"I can't wait to see the look on blood sucker's face." </p>
<p>Donghyuck and Renjun stop looking through the party items on the shelf and turn to the two boys at the store's entrance. "A vampire becoming a doctor? Yeah right, like that's possible. Who would want a fucking cannibal as their caretaker? Mark's so fucking stupid." Renjun narrows his eyes to the boys and the box they were holding. "Did you make sure to get the garlic extract by the way? When we dump this fake blood on Canada I want to make sure he stinks like hell." Renjun gasps. Donghyuck slams a confetti bag onto the ground and stomps over to the two students. "Wait Hyuck!" Renjun calls out. He runs over to Donghyuck, but it's too late. Donghyuck had punched one of the boys in the face. "What the fuck!" the punched boy calls out. His nose starts to bleed. He looks at his assailant and laughs. "Awee look who's trying to be tough for his son of a bitch boyfriend. Go home sashimi, your vampire is not going to see the light of day if you hit me one more time." </p>
<p>"Then let me make sure that YOU don't see the light of day FIRST!" he yells out and tackles the boy. "Hyuck!" Renjun yells and tries to pry Donghyuck off of the guy. He couldn't even grab Donghyuck's shirt as the other guy stops Renjun from getting involved and throws him into a rack of paint. "Stay out of this you human!" he yells out. At this time, Jeno and Jaemin rush out of one of the aisles. "Renjun!" Jaemin yells and runs over to Renjun to help him up. "Are you ok?" he asks. Renjun combs the paint out his hair and nods. "Yes I am, but please stop Donghyuck!" Jeno turns and runs over to the scene. Donghyuck was in the midst of punching the guy in the face repeatedly. "Hyuck stop!" Jeno yells and pulls Donghyuck off of the guy. Once freed, the guy proceeds to punch Donghyuck back, causing the latter to fall on the floor. The boy tries to punch him again, but Jeno blocks him. "LET GO OF ME LEE!" His friend sees this and drops the box of fake blood to tackle Jeno. Jaemin stops him by tackling first. The guy punches Jaemin in the gut and pins him down to the ground. Alarmed, Renjun gets up and runs to push the guy off of the vampire. The brawl continues, scaring customers and employees alike until police come into the store. "Police!" Detective Jung yells. The boys freeze. Renjun's, Donghyuck's, Jeno's, and Jaemin's mouth fall open, deer in headlights as they all make eye contact with the Detective. Detective Jung on the other hand freezes, looking at the boy with a black eye, the boy with paint all over him, and the other two holding Mark's bullies like a kid squeezing their teddy bear. He sighs. "I'm going to call Doyoung hyung and tell him this" he says and walks out.</p>
<p>"Come out! All six of you!" </p>
<p>
  <i>Present Time</i>
</p>
<p>"Didn't I tell you guys to leave this alone!?" Mark shouts. "We were only trying to prevent something terrible from happening to you!" Donghyuck shouts back. "Well you could've easily done that by just WARNING ME!!" </p>
<p>An announcement comes over the PA system calling for Doyoung to go the ER. "You four stay in this room. Mark you're coming with me." the doctor states and runs out of the office with Mark following after him. Once they were for sure gone, Donghyuck lets out a scream of frustration. "GOD DAMN IT!" he kicks a trash can down and stomps to the table. "A fucking 'thank you for saving me from being embarrassed' would've been nice!" he says. "Mark hyung's right" </p>
<p>Donghyuck lifts his head from the table and glares at Jaemin. "What?" </p>
<p>"This isn't our battle. If anything we should've just warned Mark hyung about this, not beat up people" Jaemin replies back with no emotions. "We should just leave this alone Hyuck." Donghyuck scoffs and slams the table. "Are you really saying this right now? Mark hyung is being fucking bullied for his dream. At the very least we should give him our support!" </p>
<p>"We are giving him our supp-"</p>
<p>"NO! WE ARE ONLY DOING NOTHING AND ARE STANDING ON THE SIDELINES!" Donghyuck shouts, walking to Jaemin. The vampire furrows his eyebrows. "We need to respect his boundaries" he says darkly. "Why? So he can be hurt and beaten up like he wants to? SO HE CAN BREAK DOWN ALONE LIKE HE WISHES FOR??" </p>
<p>"Donghyuck calm do-" </p>
<p>"NO JENO! I will NOT calm down! This is my BOYFRIEND we are talking about here. He hides things from us that are critical for his mental health and I am DONE with him bottling up his feelings all the time and.. and.. keeping secrets from us!" </p>
<p>"Just let him be!" Jaemin starts to yell. Renjun tries to grab Jaemin's hand to calm him down, but the latter pushes him away. "Why are you taking his side huh? Oh wait, because you have things that you are keeping from us too huh!?" Jaemin clenches his fists. "Excuse me?" </p>
<p>"Don't act like you're hiding something from us. We all know that YOU are the most secretive out of all of us. We've been friends for like what, seven years?? Yet you continue to shy away from us like we're all STRANGERS!"</p>
<p>"Don't be nosy Donghyuck" Jaemin spits out. Donghyuck scoffs and points a finger to himself. "I'm being nosy? Caring about the people I love is NOSY??" Jaemin slams Doyoung's desk and points a finger at Donghyuck. "Yes! You're being very nosy! So nosy to the point where you ANNOY EVERYONE! Not everyone is ready to open up, and that's why you have to FUCKING WAIT!!" </p>
<p>"WELL WHAT IF THEY'RE NEVER READY? WHAT IF THEY NEVER OPEN UP??" </p>
<p>"THEN STOP CARING ABOUT THEM AND MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIFE!!" </p>
<p>Renjun's eyes widen. Jeno winces and walks over to the other side of the office. Donghyuck's face for a short time, changes into a sad expression. It quickly is replaced by a furious one, an expression Renjun has never seen on the merman's face ever in the three years he has known him. "Fine, I'll stop caring then" Donghyuck deadpans. He storms out of the office, Renjun tailing after him. "Donghyuck wait!" Donghyuck keeps walking until he's out of the lab all together. "Donghyuck!" The merman stops and turns to his best friend. "You should be careful too Renjun. Let's just stop caring all together and live selfish lives" Donghyuck says, giving a scary crooked smile. Renjun halts, eyes widen with fear. Donghyuck drops the smile and walks to the elevator, immediately climbing into the one that had opened. After watching Donghyuck leave, Renjun furrows his eyebrows and rushes back into the lab to the office. </p>
<p>"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT??" he yells. Jeno takes his head out of his arms. Jaemin doesn't budge and only stares at the wall at the table. "Did you really have to say that? 'Stop caring?' How rude of you to say that!!" Jaemin doesn't answer and only faces the wall, back turned against the human. "ANSWER ME YOU JERK!" </p>
<p>"Didn't I tell you Renjun?" Jaemin finally turns around and gets up from his chair. He walks over to Renjun and bends down to Renjun's height. "Curiosity kills the cat. Listen well and listen carefully" he whispers, eyes dead and clear. He straightens himself and walks out of the office to the lab without another word. Jeno sighs and and smacks his head onto the table. </p>
<p>"What is going onnn" </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>An hour passes. Renjun and Jeno were working on their homework when Doyoung comes into his office, visually dejected and stressed. "What happened? Where's Mark hyung?" Jeno asks with concern. "I sent him home. A patient died in the ER."  </p>
<p>"WHAT!?" Renjun and Jeno yell in unison. Doyoung sighs and grabs in his hair in frustration. "The worst part of it is that my senior BLAMED Mark for the death of the patient. Mark had been stressed and tired lately, so his vampire sense were more sensitive. When he saw the blood, he couldn't even move because of the smell, so he tried to run out of the perimeter, but he ran into a nurse who was carrying a cup of water for another patient and she spilled it on the defibrillator causing it to break.</p>
<p>Renjun and Jeno did not say anything. They stay silent, taking time to process the information Doyoung was giving to them. "It's not his fault! The kid's been stressed out of his mind for the whole week." The doctor puts his head into his hands. "Why did they have to call me?? Why did I tell Mark to come with me??" Renjun and Jeno get up from their seats and comforted the ghost doctor. "Thanks guys, but please go comfort Mark. The poor kid must be traumatized after what happened." Renjun and Jeno share a glance of worry then looked at Doyoung. "Sure, we'll do the best we can hyung."</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"Thank you guys for coming" Yukhei says upon opening the door. "He just came home without a word and locked himself in his room. I tried to invite him out to eat, but he doesn't answer me." </p>
<p>"Thanks gege, you did well" Renjun says. Yukhei sighs and looks back at Mark's room. He tells the boys "I'll be in my room if you need anything" and walks away. Renjun and Jeno share a worried glance before proceeding to Mark's room. They're not even in the room, yet Renjun feels the sad and dark energy coming out of the older's room. Jeno knocks on the door gently. "Hyung? You ok? It's Renjun and Jeno." Shuffling is heard from the other side, but there is no attempts of opening the door. Renjun checks to see if the door was locked or not, which it is. "Hyung I'm really sorry, but I'm going to lock pick ourselves in ok? Don't be alarmed!" Suddenly footsteps were heard running up to the door. It opens revealing a disheveled Mark with the look of fear on his face. "Please under any circumstances do not lock pick a door Renjun, that is the most scariest and most caring thing I've ever heard you say." As a response, Renjun hugs Mark. "We're here to comfort you hyung." Mark sighs and hugs Renjun back. He lets go and smiles at the wolf. "Thank you" he whispers, before padding back to his bed. Renjun and Jeno follow, closing the door on the way in. "How are you feeling?" Renjun asks. He sits with Jeno on Mark's bed. Mark stares at the floor blankly before answering. "I feel... terrible." </p>
<p>'It's not your fault hyung." </p>
<p>"Yes it is Renjun. If I had just resisted the smell of blood coming out of that woman, she would've lived to see another day.  If I had just ignored the urge, if I had just-" Mark takes a second to swallow his tears. Jeno pats his back, letting him know it's okay to cry. "If.. I had just been born a different being..I could've lived a better life." He sighs and hugs the pillow next to him. "To be honest I'm not okay with all the comments. I'm not okay with all of those people slapping me and calling me a monster. I hate that people in my biology classes make fun of me. I hate how administration had pretty much rejected my application to medical school three times because of my species. I want to think it's all fake, I want to think it just comes with the job but.." </p>
<p>A tear falls from his eye. Mark begins to sob. Hiccuping, coughing, letting it all out right then and there. Renjun gives his hyung a hug while Jeno lets Mark lean on his shoulder. They take a moment to let Mark cry, to release all of the pain and suffering he had kept since the day he told someone he wanted to become a doctor. </p>
<p>"I-I want to, to think that it's all fake. *cough* I w-want to believe I-I can do i-it. But I don't think I can! I don't think I *hiccup* handle it anymore! I want to quit! I want to give up! I-I don't want to d-do this *sniff* anymore!!!" </p>
<p>Hearing this broke Renjun's heart. After years of wanting to become a doctor, years of working to prove the world wrong, his strong hyung wants to give up. His determined hyung wants to give up all those years of hard work and dedication. All because of those narrow minded fuckers. </p>
<p>Mark later calms down. The tears slow their descent little by little until there was none to fall from his eyes. "Dr. Park was right-" Mark whispers. "A vampire can't be a doctor. They shouldn't be doctors in the first place. All they do is get persuaded by blood to the point of murder and destruction." He gives a pitiful laugh and puts his weight on Jeno's shoulder. "A doctor is not a murder. A doctor is a savior.. and that's not what I am." </p>
<p>"Well you know what?" </p>
<p>The three boys lift their heads. Donghyuck was standing in the doorway, tears in his eyes and frustration on his face. "Doctors make mistakes all the time, yet they are still able to save people. I bet you that Doyoung hyung had failed in surgeries before. I bet you that son of a bitch Dr. Park has accidentally killed someone during an ER rescue. This death, isn't even by your hands hyung! Doyoung hyung had just told me about this, and it was obvious that she was going to die, but you know what? These doctors still tried to give their all."  He starts walking to the bed and kneels in front of Mark, looking at him like a father talking to a son. "They knew this girl was going to die, but still gave it their all. That's what you will do. Are you going to give up in trying to save other people?" Mark looks at Donghyuck in dead straight in the eyes. "But.. I contributed to her death. She could've lived Donghyuck." </p>
<p>"Don't think like that Mark Lee. You must make mistakes before succeeding in something. No matter what field you're in, you are bound to mess something up big time." Donghyuck cups Mark's face into his hands and rests his forehead on his. "It's good you made this mistake early. So that way, you can grow in the future, you won't make it again. Like you said hyung, the learning never stops. Now you know, that you must resist that blood urge. So what's the best way to do that?" Donghyuck tackles Mark to the bed, bringing Renjun and Jeno with them. He snuggles close to his lover and hugs his torso. "To get a good night rest and to relieve your stress. You won't be able to do this as a doctor in the future, so let's do that now." Mark chuckles weakly and gives a small smile. "Thank you Hyuck...I'm sorry." </p>
<p>"Don't apologize for anything." </p>
<p>The group rests in comfortable silence. Forgetting about today's conflicts and disputes and just slip into dream world. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p><i>"Please don't learn about me Injun...It'll make you sad. I don't want you to be sad."</i> </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"Hyung, have you made mistakes during your doctor career before?" </p>
<p>Doyoung looks up from his book and raises an eyebrow. "Elaborate for me?" </p>
<p>"Have you ever.. accidentally had death upon your hands?" Renjun asks. Doyoung pauses for a second, staring at Renjun before nodding. "Of course, as a doctor you are bound to mess up and not be able to save someone" he deadpans. Doyoung closes his book and puts it to the side. "Why? Is this about Mark?" Renjun nods. "Donghyuck had tried to explain to him that it's normal to make mistakes, but I feel like he isn't that convinced." Doyoung nods understandingly and sighs. "It's gonna take more then just a pep talk to convince him that. I remember the first time this happen to me. I almost gave up my job because of it." Doyoung takes a second before talking again, finding the right words to say. "But I learned later on that it's natural. I've always heard that its a human thing to make mistakes. Well it's the same thing in Neo City. We may not be human, but we're still not perfect." The doctor looks at the clock to check the time. "I'm going to let Mark take some rest today. There was another spirit that went off radar again, and I don't want him to go hunting it down in this state." </p>
<p>"Wow, how long has it been since we last got a missing spirit?" Renjun asks. "Only two weeks. I really don't know what's happening lately. Spirits don't go missing this often." The ghost sighs once more. He picks up his phone to dial Mark. "Go ahead and start your homework. Exams are coming up soon so I suggest you study for them." Renjun gives a smile and a thumbs up and walks over to the table. "Oh, can Donghyuck stay with Mark too? I don't feel comfortable leaving him alone." Doyoung chuckles. "Don't worry, I feel like he won't even come today even if I force him too." Renjun returns the smile and texts Donghyuck. He puts down his phone and gets started on his exam study guide, cause he a studious one. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Slowly one by one, the rest of the group (with the exception of Mark and Donghyuck) had piled into the room. Jaemin doesn't even give a glance at Renjun and vice versa. The two hadn't talked to each other since the incident the other day. "Study for a bit guys, I'll try look for that missing spirit on the radar" Doyoung announces. He gets up from his desk and walks to the door. The doctor stops and turns to the boys. "Be nice to each other" he says, and walks into the lab. The boys don't talk and get working on their schoolwork. Renjun takes his time to look at Jaemin's face. The emotionless look had returned, once again making Renjun question what must be on his mind. He doesn't think about it too much and goes back to his study guide. </p>
<p>"I FOUND IT, GUYS IT'S ON RADAR." Everyone jolts from the yelling. Doyoung bursts into the room and throws the equipment towards them. "Go! Go! Leave your stuff here and search through the dorms!!" </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"Why do I always have to be paired off with him??" Renjun thinks. He glares at the guy walking ahead of him. If they weren't on no speaking terms at the moment, Renjun would've been delighted to partnered up with Jaemin to search for this lightning spirit.</p>
<p>"Stop burning holes on my back" Jaemin states without even turning his head. Renjun huffs and looks away at one of the dorm buildings. Neo University has a lot of dorm buildings, probably even more then the average college. They are sectioned off per graduating class, with at least 5-8 buildings per section, depending on how large each class is and how many students planned to live on campus (Renjun remembers filling out a long ass form in order for him to live in one of the buildings. It took him at least 1 and a half hours to fill out). </p>
<p>Jaemin stops in front of a building and looks down at his phone. He looks back up at the name plaque plastered on the wall to confirm they are at the right place, then rings the doorbell. The security guard looks up from his phone and opens the door for them. </p>
<p>"Hey hyung, have you seen a lightning spirit around here?" The guard stops and thinks, then shakes his head. "Nope, I don't remember anything going through those doors." At that moment, Renjun's phone starts to ring. He takes it out of his pocket and answers it. </p>
<p>"Hello?" </p>
<p>"RENJUN WHERE ARE YOU??" Donghyuck yells into the mic. Renjun winces and takes the phone away from his ear. He's going to need hearing aids at the age of 25 and it'll be all thanks to his friends screaming into the phone whenever they call (or actually whenever they talk in general). "I'm at one of the 2020 buildings, why." </p>
<p>"WHICH ONE ARE YOU IN??" </p>
<p>Renjun looks Jaemin's list then goes back to the call. "C" he answers. "GET YOUR ASS TO A QUICKLY, THERE'S A LIGHTNING SPIRIT THAT IS HAVING A SEIZURE IN HYUNG'S DORM AND I AM STARTLED." Renjun's eyes grow wide. "A lightning spirit?" </p>
<p>"YES, YES COME QUICKLY!!!" </p>
<p>"Hold on, we're coming!" Renjun quickly hangs up the phone and whips his head to Jaemin. "Donghyuck said there's a lightning spirit in Mark hyung's room!" Jaemin reciprocates Renjun's look of surprise and hurries with him out to Mark's building. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>All four of the boys stare at the lightning spirit squeezed into the corner of the living room in confusion. Usually, lightning spirits would jump around like bunnies on crack (ie. that one time that Renjun got burned at the beach). But this one just sat there in the corner, staring back at the boys. "Look what happens why I try to grab it" Mark says. He creeps towards the spirit by one bit. Suddenly it starts to shake rapidly and snuggles even deeper into the corner. "This is the weirdest lightning spirit I have ever encountered" Jaemin says. Renjun lightly taps him to catch his attention. "You calm it down, and I'll try to grab it with a capsule" he whispers. </p>
<p>"No you stay with Mark hyung and Hyuck, I'll get it" Jaemin whispers back and tries to inch closer towards the lightning spirit. Renjun pulls him back in frustration as a response and glares. "Let me help you. Don't do this by yourself." Jaemin looks at the spirit then at the shorter. He shrugs Renjun's hand off and steps closer to the spirit in the corner. "Geez what's his problem?" Donghyuck asks Renjun. Renjun only sighs in frustration and walks to Mark's room. "I'm going to check on Pangxie" he tells Mark. The older gives a thumbs up and goes to join Renjun. "Are you and Jaemin ok?" Mark asks once they are in their room. Renjun pets Pangxie with his finger and feeds her a little shrimp before closing the lid to his container. "No" Renjun deadpans. "He's being very stubborn." </p>
<p>"Aren't you.. both stubborn?" Mark asks. The human sighs for a third time and takes a seat at Mark's desk. "Can I ask you a question?" Mark nods his head and leans against the wall of his room. "What's the merit of hiding your problems from people?" The older thins his lips and rubs his neck. "Is this a way to scold me? Hyuck already did that like 5 times today." Renjun shakes his head and furrows his eyebrows. "No I am just curious. If you know that you are not ok and know you need help, then why do you not bother to ask for it? You're not helping yourself or anyone when you just keep your mouth shut." </p>
<p>"Woah, that's a bit harsh Renjun" Mark says, putting his hands up. "S-sorry, I'm just really frustrated right now. I didn't mean to hurt you." The vampire puts his hands down and stuffs them into the pockets of his pants. "No, no, you got a point. It's just.. when you bottle up your feelings and problems, you feel like you're saving yourself from being a burden on others." </p>
<p>"But you're not a burden hyung" Renjun says. "We care about you and we want you to be ok and healthy." Mark gives a small smile and nods his head. "I know and I really appreciate you guys for that. For reminding me that I'm loved by other people." He drops his smile and frowns. "But while the positive things in life make an impact so do negative things. Have you ever heard of that saying? One negative comment does as much effect as much as a thousand positive ones. You just.. forget sometimes you know?" Renjun relaxes his eyebrows as they make a sad expression. He didn't think about it that way. Renjun had always thought that while there are bad things about life, there are also good things that can make the evil go away and make everything better. He didn't think that there are people whose life is filled with more bad then good and that makes him feel guilty for not thinking about them. Renjun gets up from the chair and walks over to Mark. He gives him a hug then puts a hand on Mark's shoulder. "Then don't stop us from reminding you about the good things. Ask us to remind you when you need it, and we'll do it in a heart beat." The smile comes back to Mark's face, but in a bigger form. "Thank you Renjun" he whispers. </p>
<p>Suddenly in the other room, a large crash is heard. Both Mark and Renjun share a glance of concern before rushing out of the room together. Mark's coffee table was flipped over. There were burnt marks on the walls. Jaemin was laying flat on the ground, with his face on the carpet while Donghyuck was curled up in a ball with Robert in his arms. There was a little hole in the door of the dorm room that was burnt to crisp. </p>
<p>The lightning spirit got out. </p>
<p>"Oh god, are you guys ok?" Mark yells, helping Donghyuck up. Renjun rushes over to Jaemin and shakes him. "Jaem? Jaem? Are you ok?" Jaemin brings a thumbs up as his answer and begins pushing himself up. "What the heck happened here?" Renjun asks. "Jaemin lost control of the lightning spirit and began burning everything" Donghyuck explains. "Why didn't you call us for help??" Mark asks, eyebrows furrowing. "You guys seemed like you were having a important discussion, we didn't want to bother you!" </p>
<p>"Still! You guys could've gotten really hurt! You should've yelled for help or-" Renjun turns to Mark and points at him. "Take this as a example hyung. It may seem bad for a moment, but always remember you have help right next door you can shout for. Don't try to solve it by yourself, or else-" Renjun points at the hole in the door. "-bad things can happen." Renjun makes eye contact with Jaemin for a second before walking to the door. "Come on, we should tell the others about the spirit" he says, before walking out of the dorm. </p>
<p>After he leaves, Donghyuck gives a confused look to Mark to ask what happen. "I'll explain later" Mark responds with a small smile. </p>
<p>Jaemin only looks at hole in the door emotionlessly.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you're wondering where the crab came from, I've made a side story on my Quotev account on how Renjun met Pangxie. Here's the link: https://www.quotev.com/story/12699805/The-NCT-Drabble-Book/2 </p>
<p>Also! If you want to add anymore songs to the playlist please put some recommendations in the comments below! There's not much in that playlist, and I would love to add onto it.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. 12. Lightning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It's time for Mark to face the girl who died under his watch.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heyyyyy</p><p>Joe Biden won the election (technically) and I am happy lololol</p><p>If you guys haven't heard, I made a playlist to listen to while you're reading this story or pretty much doing anything else! </p><p>Make sure to click or tap on my name and check it out in a work tilted "Song Menu For Mmmm Cherrie's FanFictions" </p><p>Thank you guys and enjoy the story!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hyuck, can we talk over there for a sec?" Donghyuck stops mid bite and shares glances with Renjun. The other only shrugs his shoulders, also a bit confused. "Sure.." the merman says and puts down his fork. Jaemin gets up from his chair and walks to another part of the food court with Donghyuck to have their chat. "What was that about?" Chenle asks. Renjun takes a bite of his chow mein and looks back at the two boys talking in the corner. They don't seem to be fighting from what Renjun sees. Jaemin is talking while Donghyuck is nodding his head, a expression of understanding clear on his face. </p><p>The boys had come to the food court for a quick lunch. The spirit had gone off radar again so they decided to take a break before setting out again. At this moment Mark comes running back to their table after having a phone call with Doyoung to convince the doctor to let him join the hunt for the spirit. "Geez, that took longer then expected" Mark says as he takes a seat. "Can you blame him? It's not every day to see a patient die in the ER" Jeno says with concern. Mark sighs and opens up a blood sauce container. "I'm not ok yet, but I'm learning that it's part of a doctor's job and.. that I gotta.. get used to it." The table falls silent. Mark clears his throat and takes a piece of lettuce from Donghyuck's salad. "I'll be fine guys don't worry" Mark smiles. A laugh from the other side of the court rings through the room. The table turns to see where it had come from. Donghyuck was laughing at what Jaemin had said, the other smiling with the merman. "What happened while I was gone?" Mark asks, tomato in mouth. Renjun shrugs his shoulders and looks back at their friends walking back to the table. "We don't have the slightest idea".</p><p>.</p><p>The group later goes back to campus and splits up to find clues. This time Renjun is paired off with Donghyuck rather then Jaemin (he's not really sure if he's relieved or disappointed if he was being completely honest). "What were you and Jaemin talking about back at the mall?" Renjun asks. He pauses for a second then goes back to looking through a bush. The tone of the question sounded a bit strange to Renjun, but he just lets it go. </p><p>Donghyuck doesn't however, let it go. </p><p>"What was that voice you were just using?" Donghyuck asks, amused. Renjun doesn't say anything and keeps digging through the same bush, even though he hasn't found anything yet. "Jaemin apologized to me for acting up the other day. I apologized to him too and we made up." Renjun stops looking and whips his body towards Donghyuck. "He apologized?" The merman nods his head. He looked a little surprised by Renjun's sudden actions. Then it dawns on him. </p><p>"Wait, were you guys fighting??" </p><p>Renjun freezes, deer in headlights. Then he moves to the next bush. "What were you guys fighting about? Roommate problems? Mark hyung problems? Did he touch your Moomin painting again or did he say something about Pangxie." Renjun rolls his eyes. "If it was about the Moomin painting or Pangxie I wouldn't be this upset, and yes this kinda does have to do with Mark hyung and kinda doesn't." </p><p>"The heck is that supposed to me-" As Donghyuck is finishing his sentence, a yellow cloud zips pasts them. Renjun and Donghyuck both freeze and look at each other. They both turn their heads to where the spirit had gone. It was flying towards the other direction but stopped as it dropped something on the ground. Seeing this as their chance, Renjun and Donghyuck run as soft as possible  towards the lightning ghost. Their steps however, were not soft enough. The spirit catches the sound of their footsteps and flies away, forgetting about the item it had dropped onto the ground. </p><p>"Well, at least we have this" Donghyuck says, panting. Renjun picks up the item on the ground after catching his breath. It was a bloody name tag with the name "Yoo Harim" engraved into it. "Our first clue, it looks like a name tag of a school uniform." Donghyuck takes a look at the tag. "You're right. Don't like how there's blood on it though." Donghyuck's phone suddenly rings. He searches through his pockets and picks up the call. "Yeah? We did too! Uh huh.. Ok, we'll be there. Mark hyung said that the rest found their own clues and to meet at the hospital" Renjun gives an ok, and they both rush to the bus stop. </p><p>.</p><p>The bus came late, so Renjun and Donghyuck at arrived at the hospital later then the rest. </p><p>They came at a bad time though. </p><p>As soon as those elevator doors opened, they witnessed a girl punch Mark in the face. "YOU KILLED HER!! YOU KILLED HER YOU FUCKING VAMP!!" Renjun and Donghyuck run over to pry the girl off of Mark. Her parents and Doyoung also come over after hearing the girl scream at the vampire. "Honey please control yourself" her mother says, trying to pull her daughter off of Mark. "NO GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME, HE KILLED HER DO YOU HEAR ME?? HE KILLED MY BEST FRIEND!!" The girls mother takes out a piece of candy and feeds it through her daughter's mouth, instantly making the girl fall asleep. Renjun gasps. "Don't worry, that was a sleeping candy. Her mother must be a shaman" Jeno whispers. "I am so sorry for her behavior doctor. The patient was Gayoon's childhood friend" the girl's father says. Doyoung nods and opens his mouth, but is interupted by Mark who suddenly pushed himself off of the ground. </p><p>"I apologize for my mistake" he says, bowing deeply to the girl's parents. "Oh no, no do not worry we understand that it wasn't your fault" the mother says. "It was the damn electrical problem at their school that killed her. We're planning to sue them for the death of Harim after we settle the news with her parents." </p><p>"Harim?" Renjun thinks. He clenches the name tag in his pockets. </p><p>"Son" The girl's father starts. He holds the Mark's shoulders and looks him in the eyes. "Don't beat yourself too much about it. The doctor has told us what happened. What you have done was a accident. Please.. don't give up on your dream." He let's go of Mark's shoulders and smiles sadly at Doyoung. "We will be waiting for Gayoon to wake up at the lobby downstairs." The doctor nods and bows. "Thank you for understanding our situation" he says. Mark follows suit and also bows. "Yes.. thank you.. so much.." The parents bow back and take their daughter to the elevator to go down to the lobby. Mark stays in his position until he hears the elevator doors close. Then, tears start to stream down his face. He falls onto his knees and starts to cry, cry like he has never done before. Donghyuck immediately goes to give him a hug, his friends and Doyoung coming to Mark's aid after him. They all hug Mark in a warm cocoon until the tears stop flowing out from his eyes. </p><p>Until the tears of relief had stopped falling. </p><p>.</p><p>Donghyuck and Mark moved to the containment room to be with the spirits. Because of the pain and suffering they had experienced, spirits are able to understand the feelings of those who are hurt and lost very well and have the ability to comfort them. The rest came together in Doyoung's office to take a breather and to give Mark some space. </p><p>"It's the first time people related to a patient had said something positive to Mark" Doyoug explains. "After 4 years of negative remarks, bullying, and verbal abuse Mark finally got the words he needed to hear. It's really reliving to him and me as his advisor." The doctor pauses to blink away the tears in his eyes. "For now on until he graduates, please just make Mark stay home. What is best for him now is to rest and focus on getting that BA. Graduation is soon and tensions are high, so we must make him feel relaxed as much as possible." </p><p>"Please, don't let him go spirit hunting for the time being." </p><p>.</p><p>Mark got sent home on doctor's orders. Donghyuck went with him as support. Doyoung had insisted for everyone else to go home, but they refused. "We got clues that for sure reveals the spirit's identity. Let us put them together at least." Jaemin begs. Thus, that is how the group got together in the lab putting their clues together on another white board that Jaemin had pulled out of nowhere. </p><p>The items pointed to the obvious identity that is Yoo Harim, the patient that Mark had witnessed dying. Her name tag, her phone, her uniform jacket, all leads to this patient. "Now all we have to do is find Harim" Jeno says. No one responds. The atmosphere of the room was calm, but blue. Of course, who can blame them. Their oldest member had broken down in front of them. Their strong hyung who had been there with them through thick and thin had collapsed into broken pieces like of one of a tower. </p><p>Sure they found the identity of this spirit quickly, but it's not that great when you see someone you view as a firm leader fall apart. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun and Jaemin don't say anything when they got home. The tension between them had thinned, but it was still there. No one had made an effort to speak except during times of urgency. </p><p>Few hours pass by making the day into night. Renjun had been in his room studying, looking through advice columns on how to take care of Pangxie, and making Mark's gift. He took the crab out of Mark's room earlier then both of them had expected. Renjun didn't want Mark to stress over the crab, so he decided to take the responsibility. "Sorry it looks a little bland, I didn't have time to get the sand yet." Renjun says. Pangxie clanks her claws as a response. A knock is heard on the door of Renjun's room. "Come in" he says. Jaemin slowly opens the door and peeks inside of the room. </p><p>"Hi"</p><p>"Hi"</p><p>He notices Pangxie on the floor and makes eye contact with her. "You wanna get sand for her now?" </p><p>.</p><p>"I'm sorry" </p><p>Renjun and Jaemin had gotten the all of the sand needed for Pangxie's tank. Right now they are sitting on the shore watching the crab collect seashells for her new home. </p><p>"For what? You didn't do anything." </p><p>Renjun shifts in his spot. "For being nosy.. I guess." Silence sits with them once again. Pangxie had just picked up a coral skeleton in confusion, but decides to take it with her anyways. </p><p>"I'm the one who should be sorry" Jaemin says after a while. "I was telling you to not care for your friends, to not let them know that you're there for them..." He sighs and hugs his knees to his chest. "I never really understood the merit of telling people your problems. I always thought, if you tell someone what's going on your life you're either being a burden on them, putting them in danger..." </p><p>"Or they just end up not caring." </p><p>Pangxie comes back with a sand dollar and drops it into her bucket of seashells. "I had told Mark hyung earlier that, when you forget about the good things in life, you are always welcome to ask your loved ones for a reminder" Renjun replies after. He turns his head to Jaemin. "Don't be afraid of opening up every once and a while. That way, you can lift the pressure off of your shoulders bit by bit." After Pangxie collects her last shell, Renjun gets up and grabs the buckets. He lends a hand for Pangxie to climb on. "Come on, we should go eat something." </p><p>.</p><p>The week goes normal after that day. Renjun and Jaemin had made up. The group goes back to making their surprise for Mark while also looking for that lightning spirit. Mark himself, spends his days studying for his finals and managing stress by watching movies and hanging out with his friends. </p><p>"Were we supposed to put cake flour or wheat?" </p><p>"Jeno why would a cake need wheat flour??" </p><p>Jeno shrugs his shoulders and looks at the bags in his hands. "I don't know, they're flours!" Donghyuck rolls his eyes and grabs the cake flour then drops it into the cart. "Cake isn't supposed to be that healthy Jen" he says. Renjun smiles at his friends before turn his attention back to the bread on the shelf. "Jaem do we need more bread?" Jaemin looks up from his phone and and eyes the different varieties of bread. "Mmm, I say we do. We've been eating a lot toast lately." Renjun nods and grabs some white bread from the shelf. </p><p>Suddenly, Jaemin's phone starts to ring. "Hello?" he answers. Renjun watches how Jaemin's eyebrows furrow then spring upwards. "Got it, we'll go get it. Now? Uh, we're at the supermarket. Uh huh... yeah.. ok, thanks hyung." Jaemin hangs up the phone and starts booking it to the register. "Wait where are you going, we still need to get stuff for the cake!" Jeno yells. "Doyoung found the lightning spirit on radar at District U, so we need to pay and go there quick!" Renjun turns to Donghyuck. "Let's go find Chenle and Jisung." Donghyuck nods and runs off to find their youngest friends with Renjun while Jeno goes to the register to help Jaemin pay for the groceries. </p><p>.</p><p>The group actually spots the spirit on the drive to District U. They decide to follow it as the spirit doesn't realize she's being followed. "I thought hyung said the spirit was in District U? It's clearly in 127." Donghyuck says. "Are we following the wrong one?" Jisung asks. Jaemin shakes his head and keeps his eyes on the yellow ghost. "No, it's the right one. This spirit is less jagged then other lightning spirits." </p><p>Renjun turns to Jaemin in confusion. "You can differentiate them by shape?" The vampire nods his head, still looking at the spirit. "They all have unique shapes and sizes. It's really easy to see once you notice." Renjun takes that note and keeps it in his memory. </p><p>"Different shapes.. different sizes.. different experiences." </p><p>The spirit continues into Cherry Park then suddenly flies upwards towards the sky. It causes lightning to burst as it jumps from cloud to cloud through the dark skyline. "Damn! It's going to fast!" Jaemin exclaims. "Let's just drive into District U and look from there" Jeno says. Thus, they continue to drive into the old district, keeping a particular eye on the yellow sparks in the sky. </p><p>.</p><p>Jeno parks his car in the street. The group gets out of the car and go off on their own to look for any traces or clues on where Harim may be. </p><p>"No? Ah thank you for your time!" Renjun says after asking a old shopkeeper. He takes a look at the street he is in. There wasn't that many lights illuminating the street like at District 127 or District V. It gives off a old Seoul feeling to the Chinese boy. The small stores with sliding paper widow doors line the street that looks very empty with the small amount of cars parked against the sidewalk. </p><p>"Yo Renjun! Did you find anything?" Renjun looks to who's calling him and shakes his head. "Nope, no one said they saw her, what about you?" Donghyuck sighs and puts his hands on his hips. "No one at the street market said they saw anything, so I thought coming here may bring in some results. Guess not."</p><p>Defeated, they decide to go to the more older and abandoned part of the district. "How's Mark hyung doing?" Renjun asks. "He's doing well. You don't know how relieved I am from seeing him smile and so relaxed. After four years of back breaking agony, he deserves this." After answering, Donghyuck smirks and walks ahead. He turns around to face Renjun and walks backwards. "So, what about you and Jaemin?" </p><p>"Pole"</p><p>"What? OW!" Renjun laughs at the merman. Donghyuck had bumped into a light pole and banged the back of his head against it. "Yes, laugh at my pain and suffering you imbecile" Donghyuck groans, rubbing the back of his head. "I warned you!" Renjun laughs. Donghyuck rolls his eyes and smiles. "Seriously, are you good with Jaemin now?" The human nods in the midst of calming himself down. He wipes a tear from his face. "Yeah we made up." The boys continue walking and talking till they see a bright and neon cloud circling around one of the shops on the streets. They stop in their tracks, then slowly creep up to the store across the street. They were 2 steps away from the spirit, when the door to of the store opens. The spirit gets startled and flies away to another direction. Donghyuck takes the initiative and runs after it, not really caring about "calming it down" and what not (Well when you think about it, Jaemin is the only one who can calm spirits down so really even if they wanted to, both can't relax it). Renjun on the other hand, freezes when he makes eye contact with the girl who open the door to the store. </p><p>It was the same girl from the hospital. </p><p>"Ah, you're one of the friends who pried me off from that doctor intern from the hospital. Are you here to deliver a full apology for your friend or is he going to say it to me in person?" </p><p>"Is it too late to run off?" Renjun thinks. The girl raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms. The human clears his throat and straightens himself. "I uh.. may I talk to you for a moment?" The girl doesn't budge, only looking more annoyed at the boy in front of her. "It's about that intern and your friend." The girl groans and dumps a bucket of water onto the street. "Look, if that intern isn't going to apologize for killing Harim then no need" she says. Renjun's eyes widen. "Wait!" he shouts. He stops the girl from closing the door of the store. "What are you doing??" she yells. "Please let me explain everything to you. That way maybe you can understand." </p><p>"Please, my parents already tried to do that. What makes you think you can do better?" </p><p>"Maybe the fact that Harim is now a lost lightning spirit, floating around the city??" The girl freezes, her eyes widened. She relaxes her grip on the door then opens it completely. "Go sit at one of the tables mister." </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun relays everything to Gayoon, the girl sitting in front of him. From the accidental death of Harim to Mark's dream to Harim's ghost flying around aimlessly throughout the city. After listening word after word, Gayoon sighs and puts her head into her hands. "Wow, that's a lot to take in." She takes her head out and looks at Renjun. "In reality, I knew Harim was going to pass. She got shocked falling into a puddle with broken wires and cut her head in the hallway at school. There was no hope for her cause it took too long for a person to find her, but I begged my teachers to take her to a hospital anyways. They did, and when the doctors there said she can't be saved, I brought her to Neo City hoping that maybe the doctors here can do something. I guess that I was blinded by my fears and anger I didn't stop to think that your friend.. wasn't the problem. For some reason when I heard he was a vampire, all I could think of was blaming him."</p><p>"I would like to apologize to him, is there a way to contact your friend?" Gayoon asks. Renjun sighs and gives a small but sad smile. "He's currently taking a mental break right now, cause he's about to graduate soon." The girl makes an O with her mouth and nods. She looks down at her lap then gets up from the table. Gayoon takes out a piece of paper and a pen and writes something down. She comes back to the table and passes the note to Renjun. "Then whenever he is ready please tell him to contact me with this number. I will like to apologize when he is well." Renjun smiles and nods his head. He takes the piece of paper into his hands. "I will make sure to relay this to him." </p><p>"You said it is possible to revive Harim. Is there anything I can do to help you guys?" Gayoon asks. Renjun thinks then pulls out his phone. "It's a great help to hear about our patient's past lives. That way, we can help them remember and take on their new form faster." He opens the note app of his phone. "Tell me about Harim. What she was like and who she was as a person." Gayoon taps the table in rhythm in thought. "Well Yoo Harim was a very bubbly person. She was always so bright and happy, it's rare to see her frown. She is a human and is in 2nd year with me at Seoul Art High School and wanted to become a webtoon artist when she was older." Renjun tilts his head. "How do you know a human?" </p><p>"Ah, I was actually born in Ilsan. I've been going to school in Seoul for the duration of my life, so that's how I met her. No one except for her knows that I'm a supernatural. Well, a lot of rumors were spreading around but they were forgotten pretty quickly." Renjun nods and jots down everything she says. "May I ask what species you are?" Gayoon nods. "I'm a gumiho." After saying that, a light bulb lights up in Gayoon's head. "Wait, you had told me that objects help spirit's recollect their memory right?" Renjun tells her yes. She tells him to wait at the table and rushes upstairs to her house. The human takes a moment to look around the shop. It was a homey rice cake soup shop. The wooden tables sitting close to the windows and a open kitchen allowing customers to watch their food being cooked. There's a door that is labeled "Temple Shop" with a charm. Renjun assumes that's where Gayoon's parent's shaman stuff lay. </p><p>Speaking of the devil, Gayoon comes running back down the stairs. She takes her seat at the table again and hands over a white fox key chain to Renjun. "Harim had bought this for me during our hang out at Itaewon. It was the first day of this school year when we went so it shouldn't be too long ago." Renjun accepts the key chain and studies it for a bit. The white fox was looking down to its left. Her 9 tails stuck out proudly with white fluff and glitter decorating them. "Thank you Gayoon. I might need to call you in for assistance to revive Harim if that's ok." Gayoon nods her head with energy. "Of course! I'll do anything to bring Harim back again." Renjun smiles. "Thank you for your assistance Gayoon." </p><p>"No, thank you Renjun ssi, for doing the things you do." </p><p>.</p><p>The lightning spirit went off radar again. Donghyuck lost it within the old buildings in the back of District U. It was too fast for him, so he gave up. As for the rest of the group, they got some info about its behaviors and patterns, so at least they can predict her path. </p><p>Renjun and Jaemin were playing around with Pangxie, with It's Ok Not to Be Ok playing in the background when the human asks the other a question. </p><p>"How often are creatures born outside of Neo City?" Jaemin takes his attention off of the screen. "What?" Renjun gives Pangxie a shell to keep her entertained. He takes out some of his craft supplies out of his paint box and starts putting together Mark's grand gift. "The spirit's best friend is a gumiho born in Ilsan. Hearing that got me thinking. How supernatural people are able to survive outside of Neo City and how they are able to go on with their practices." Jaemin doesn't answer right away after that. Renjun waits for a reply, fixing the strings of the gift and making sure it doesn't fall apart. </p><p>"If you think about it, Mark hyung's from Canada and Chenle is from Shanghai. That proves that there are creatures all over the world. Neo City isn't the only supernatural city in the world you know. There's tons and tons of safe havens for creatures in the world, so I wouldn't worry too much about it" Jaemin replies.</p><p>"You're from here right?" Renjun asks. It catches Jaemin off guard, the shorter notices immediately but doesn't say anything. "What makes you think I'm not?" the wolf whispers. Renjun stops fiddling with the strings and looks at Jaemin. The other was staring at him, looking for any answers to his question's on the human's face. "You just seem.. different from those who were born here. Sometimes I feel like you're from Incheon or somewhere, other times I recognize you have a childhood in Neo CIty." The two keep their eye contact, staring into each other's eyes very deeply. "Is that so?" Jaemin replies after. He slowly inches closer towards Renjun's face, eyes drifting back and forth between his eyes and lips. The other stands still and lets the wolf come closer. </p><p>And closer </p><p>Closer, until their noses touch. Their eyes start to close as Jaemin turns his head at an angle.</p><p>They get closer... Then-</p><p>"GUYS THE SPIRIT IS BACK ON RADAR."</p><p>Frightened and startled, Jaemin jumps onto Renjun and like a scared cat. Renjun on the other hand, tries to hold Jaemin's weight while also trying not to smash Mark's gift with his and the vampire's body. Donghyuck and Jeno only stare at the tangled limbs in front of them at the doorway. Pangxie meanwhile picks up one of her favorite shells and shows it to Donghyuck. "Oh that's a lovely shell, did you get that at the beach?" the merman coos. The crab gives some sort of answer to Donghyuck, making him hum in a understanding tone. "Ah yes, that is a lovely place to get some shells. Now Pangxie tell me, what were Renjun and Jaemin doing just now?" Pangxie begins to demonstrate the incident by slowly bring her claws together. "PANGXIE DON'T YOU DO IT!!" Renjun shouts. The crab turns her body and glares at her owner. "GO TO YOUR ROOM PANGXIE!!" The crab narrows her eyes more before scurrying to pick up her shells and pinching Renjun's and Jaemin's toes. "OW, YOU'RE GROUNDED" Jaemin shouts as the crab goes into Renjun's room. </p><p>"Since when were you guys parenting a crab together?" Jeno asks, a bit amused. "Forget the crab, you said Harim is back on radar right? Then lets grab Chenle and Jisung and go find her." </p><p>Donghyuck and Jeno look at each other then back at Renjun and Jaemin. "Yeah about that.." </p><p>.</p><p>The door opens revealing a very tired and stressed boy. He scans the five people in front of his dorm room before shouting for Chenle. </p><p>"DON'T SHOUT, YOU'LL SCARE HER" </p><p>"YOU ALREADY CAUGHT HER, IT'S FINE" </p><p>The boy turns back to the group. "Oh you're still here, then come in I would like to go back to sleep as soon as possible thank you very much" he says, before stomping off to his room. "Thanks Daehwi hyung!" Jisung yells before taking off his shoes and walking into the room, his hyungs following him. "Wait Chenle already caught the spirit?" Jeno asks. They walk up to Chenle's room door and open it. They find Chenle furiously trying to hold the spirit in his hands with oven mitts on.</p><p>Well... technically he caught it I guess. </p><p>"DO YOU HAVE A CAPSULE??" he asks. Jaemin rushes over to the scene to try calm the spirit down. "Chenle, you don't just grab the spirit like that!" Renjun scolds. "I'M SORRY, I'M SUPPOSED TO BE IN A FREAKING LAB REVIVING THE SPIRITS NOT HUNT THEM DOWN IN THE WILD, HOW WAS I SUPPOSE TO KNOW THIS??" Chenle shouts back. </p><p>"BY HAVING COMMON SENSE??" Donghyuck yells. All this yelling and shouting doesn't help the situation. It only makes the spirit agitated, causing her to burn the mitts off of Chenle's hands. "OW!" he shouts. He let's go of the spirit in the process. She zooms around the room for a bit before flying out of the window. "Go after it on ground!" Jaemin says. He shapes shift into a bat and goes after the spirit as the rest run out the room to get to ground level. "Why the heck hasn't he turned into a bat before???" Renjun asks while running. "I don't know, that's actually a really good question" Jeno replies back.</p><p>"GUYS OVER THERE!!" Donghyuck yells. He points at a yellow orb flying around in the sky. They spot a bat Jaemin going after it. His speed slowly deteriorating. Renjun watches in horror as Jaemin switches back and forth between his human and bat form. The vampire finally gives up and falls in his human form. "JAEMIN! TURN INTO A BAT QUICKLY!!" Renjun shouts. Jaemin complies and changes into his bat form as he is falling. Renjun opens his hands to catch the bat, ending jumping to the ground. He catches Jaemin nonetheless in his hands. "I caught you pup" he whispers. The bat rubs his head on Renjun's hands as a thank you before climbing out and returning into his human form. "Guys are you ok?" Donghyuck yells, running over to his friends. Jaemin, now in human form, helps Renjun up onto his feet. "Yeah we're ok" Renjun says, dusting himself off. "Chenle and Jisung went to follow the spirit, so let's go after it" Jeno says. They all then went running in the direction the spirit was flying to. </p><p>.</p><p>"Oh hey gu-" </p><p>"MARK HYUNG!!" </p><p>"AHHH!!" </p><p>During their wild goose chase with the spirit, the group had ran to the class of 2020 dorms and saw Mark walking out of the building with Robert waddling next to him. The vampire, despite his friends VICIOUSLY CHASING DOWN A YELLOW ORB IN THE SKY LIKE THEY'RE MAD, smiles and says hello to the group. Usually, they'd come one by one or in pairs when visiting him, so seeing them in one group was nice. </p><p>Though instead of greeting hello back, the group decides to tackle him with love. Well, not the group but Donghyuck and Chenle decides to tackle Mark to the ground in fear he was going to try get out of his mental health break if he sees the spirit zooming around the sky like a fruit fly, but you get the idea. </p><p>"WHY IS IT EVERY TIME YOU GUYS SEE ME YOU TACKLE ME" Mark cries out in agony. "Well it's not EVERY time.." Donghyuck pouts. Robert looks at his poor owner on the ground then looks at the rest of the group ditching the three to chase after Harim. The duck quacks in a panicked tone once he spots the lightning spirit in the sky and begins to fly after it himself. </p><p>"WAIT ROBERT WHERE ARE YOU- HYUCK NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR KISSES" </p><p>"EW!!" Chenle yells out and climbs off of Mark before joining the others. Mark uses this chance to push Donghyuck off of him and sprint after the younger to find out what his friends and duck are chasing after. Donghyuck groans and pushes himself up before taking off again. </p><p>.</p><p>Harim ends up disappearing into the clouds again. The group can see where she's going, but can't follow her because of traffic caused by both people and cars. Because of this, they end up getting distracted and lose the spirit. </p><p>"GAH WE LOST HER!!" Jisung shouts. </p><p>"LOST WHO???" The group screams in unison. They didn't expect Mark to actually follow them. They just assumed that he was too tired to. "WHY ARE YOU HERE!!!?" Renjun yells out. Some people look at him with weird glances, but he ignores it. At this point, he's used to the weird looks he gets. "uM TO FIND OUT WHY MY FRIENDS AND MY DUCK RUNNING AFTER A- AHH JENO LET ME GO." In the midst of his rant, Jeno scoops Mark up, carrying like a potato sack over his shoulder. The wolf starts to run towards the other direction, Donghyuck and Chenle running with him as support. "How the heck is he able to carry him after running for like 10 minutes??" Renjun asks, slowly catching his breath. "He's Lee Jeno, it's in his blood" Jaemin replies.</p><p>A flash of lightning rings through the skyline. Then, a few claps of thunder follows, scaring the civilians in the streets. </p><p>"Is it going to rain?" </p><p>"I thought the forecast said it was going to be clear today!" </p><p>"Mommy, why was that boy running through the sidewalk with another boy on his shoulders?" </p><p>Another strike of lightning rings again. "Uh oh, she's really upset. We gotta find this spirit fast and calm her down" Jaemin says. After another clap of thunder, Renjun spots a zag of a yellow cloud come back from the sky and towards the other direction. "There!" Renjun says, pointing at the lighting spirit. Robert quacks and begins to start his flight again. Renjun, Jaemin, and Jisung follow the duck through the crowd on the ground, determined to catch this spirit. </p><p>.</p><p>The boys follow the spirit to the hospital. The spirit is panicked, so she is flying to the place she knows well which is the hospital's emergency room. </p><p>You know, cause that's where she passed. </p><p>"It's going to go into the ER!" Jaemin yells out. They watch as the spirit disappears within the sliding doors of the hospital to get into the emergency room. The boys follow in hot pursuit, dodging every visitor, doctor, nurse, and patient on their way.  Robert keeps an eye from the sky as he circles around the building like a hawk.</p><p>"Excuse me!" Jaemin pants to the security guard. In order to get into the ER, visitors must state the name of the patient they are seeing, otherwise there is no way in. As Renjun and Jisung catch their breath, Jaemin brings out his ID card and shows it to the guard. "We have been chasing a lightning spirit for at least a half an hour and it went into the ER." </p><p>"I haven't seen a lightning spirit fly into here though" the guard replies, arms crossed his chest. "This is where the spirit has passed, so most likely it went in here" Jaemin tries again. The guard hardens his stare. "You boys aren't getting in unless your loved one is in the Emergency Room." </p><p>Suddenly screams are heard from the inside. The guard whips his head towards the door. "Back up, back up!" his walkie talkie shouts. "What's the deal in there?" the guard responds. "Send in those boys that work for Dr. Kim ASAP! There's a lightning spirit that's going rogue in here!" The guard looks at Renjun, Jisung, and Jaemin then back at the doors. "Here, do what you can boys and call me when if you need help" he finally says, and lets them into the Emergency Room. </p><p>As soon as the doors open they immediately run into the room. They spot the spirit attacking a certain room. "That's where she was probably bought to!" Jisung says. Nurses and some visitors quickly bring out the current patient of that room as the spirit angrily scare them away. "It's really agitated, it's gonna take forever to calm it down!" Jaemin says. "Don't bring the capsule ball out yet!" Jaemin begins to creep towards the spirit, Renjun and Jisung following him. They open the curtains to the room slightly to observe the spirit. She was going around in circles, destroying medical supplies in fear and turmoil. </p><p>"Get ready if she comes at me" Jaemin whispers. "She's going crazy in there! You can't just go in!" Renjun whispers back in a alarmed tone. "How else are we going to calm her down?" the vampire replies back. He turns his attention to Harim and sneaks into the room, careful of her lightning attacks. "Yoo Harim ssi?" Jaemin says in a gentle tone. The spirit stops flying in circles and whips to Jaemin. "It's ok.. don't be scared.." </p><p>The spirit notices Jaemin's soft tone, recognizing that he wants peace. Renjun holds his breath as he watches the spirit float closer to Jaemin's hands. He hopes and prays that there won't be any type of disturbance that could cause the spirit to go berserk. Renjun's prayers seems to be heard as Jaemin successfully carries Harim in his hands. "Let's not put her in a capsule. We're in the hospital anyway." Renjun and Jisung smile and nod. With the spirit in Jaemin's hands, the boys then walk out of the Emergency Room, thanking every person there for their help and cooperation, as quiet and gentle as they can. </p><p>Then their friends come running at them outside, screaming and shouting. </p><p>Don't ever believe something peaceful has successfully happened in this fan fiction, it's just hard to believe at this point. </p><p>"LET GO OF ME JENO, YOU GUYS ARE NOT HELPING ME!!" Mark yells. "NOOOO, YOU'RE SUPPOSE TO BE RESTING HYUNNG!!" Jeno yells back. Jaemin tries to shush his friends, but it was too late. The spirit gets startled from the yelling and burns Jaemin's hands. "Ah!" Jaemin yells in pain. Renjun quickly comes to Jaemin's aid and takes a look at his hands. The palms of both hands were burnt black. </p><p>The spirit begins zipping around the hallway outside of the Emergency Room looking for its next victim. It catches the boys grouped up together and sends lightning bolts towards their direction. "Watch out!" Chenle yells. They dodge a lightning that had was close to their feet. The spirit continues to shoot out more lightning bolts at the boys and chases them out to the field in front of the building. </p><p>It was like a game of lightning tag. The spirit sends her bolts, and the boys dodge it to the best of their ability. Jeno had turned into his Samoyed form for more agility. Donghyuck uses his elemental to combat with the bolts, same with Jisung and Renjun. Chenle keeps shrinking then regrowing. Mark and Jaemin uses their super speed. </p><p>Something keeps shaking in Renjun's pockets as he runs. "The key chain!" he realizes. He stops in his tracks and searches for who the spirit was going to target next. It was going to aim at Mark. </p><p>Quickly, he runs towards Mark's direction. "HYUNG DON'T MOVE!!" he shouts. Mark gives him a confused look and panics once the spirit was going to go after him. Before the spirit could attack, Renjun gets in front of Mark and shows the key chain. "Look Harim! It's a gift you got for Gayoon!" he says. The spirit freezes, but does not lose her jagged form. "H-Harim? As in, Yoo Harim?" </p><p>The spirit takes her attention off of Renjun and onto Mark. It stares at the vampire, feeling a sense of deja vu. Mark stares at her back with wide eyes. A tear rolls out of one of them down his cheek. Renjun slowly moves out of the way to let them have their moment. His friends walking closer to the scene. Suddenly Mark kneels towards Harim, making her a little surprised. </p><p>"I-I'm sorry Yoo Harim ssi! I-I was the one who had brought you to your suffering! I was the one who broke the defibrillator that could've helped you live a better life! I-I-" The lightning spirit that Mark was crying in front of only stares at the boy while confused. He looks familiar to her. Is he someone she had knew? She cannot remember. </p><p>Then, it dawns on her. </p><p>This boy, was the same boy Harim had seen when she woke up. She remembers him now. The hospital room was stormed with doctors and nurses. They were all shouting and glaring at the boy. </p><p>"You are disgusting! How could you let your vampire senses distract you!" a doctor shouted.</p><p>"Stop trying! A vampire can never become a doctor! You're the proof of that!" a nurse yelled.</p><p>Another doctor came between the other doctors and nurses and the boy. "Please stop shouting! Yoo Harim couldn't have been saved anyways! She hit her head and got electrocuted in a puddle of wires! There's nothing we could've done-" </p><p>"SHUT UP KIM DOYOUNG! THIS BOY IS UNDER YOUR CARE. YOU SHOULD'VE KNOWN THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN. NEXT TIME A VAMPIRE TRIES TO COME UNDER YOUR CARE, USE YOUR COMMON SENSE AND REJECT THEM IMMEDIATELY!" </p><p>The boy doesn't react to the yelling. He stood there shell shocked. Eyes big as saucers, hands shaking, his chest going up and down. </p><p>"YOU KILLED HER MARK LEE!! YOU ARE A MURDERER!!" </p><p>A murderer? The lightning spirit looks at her body. A pair of defibrillators was sitting on the chest of her dead body. </p><p>"YOU SEE THOSE!? THOSE DEFIBRILLATORS BROKE BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T CONTROL YOUR SENSES YOU BLOOD SUCKER!!" </p><p>Harim looks back at the boy. "I AM SORRY, I WILL RESIGN IMMEDIATELY!" he shouts while bowing. She can see tears dropping from his eyes. The doctor slaps the boy. "You should've thought of that before you came here, you monster" he mutters in a viscous tone. </p><p>This doesn't look right to the lightning spirit. Sure, the boy may be the reason why she is like this now, but hurting him isn't the answer. No, even if it is his fault, this shouldn't happen. </p><p>She remembers now. The crying boy is the boy who kept getting hurt at the hospital. This is the boy that she felt hurt, sadness, and hopelessness from. She can feel those same feelings now, as the boy bawls his eyes out on his knees. </p><p>The lightning spirit wants to comfort him. She wants to stop the negative aura coming out of him. He's lost and hurt, just like how she is. </p><p>Renjun watches as the spirit floats closer to Mark. The vampire was too busy crying to notice Harim get closer to him. Harim's form was now smoother, her guard had dropped. Mark lifts his head and gets surprised by the spirit getting near him. Soft and little whispers speak out from the spirit to Mark. "It can talk?" Renjun thinks. After she had said what she needed to say, Harim looks at the vampire. Mark widen his eyes and sniffs. The lightning spirit gives him a little bow. Mark gets up and gives her a bow back. After straightening himself up, Harim floats to his hands and rests on his palms. She pats them with her tail, then curls up into a ball. </p><p>Mark smiles, then whispers quietly.</p><p>"Thank you" </p><p>.</p><p>"CONGRATULATIONS!!!" </p><p>Mark gets taken a back from the loud screaming from his friends. He later smiles as he realizes it was surprise party. </p><p>The vampire just graduated a day ago. To be honest, he thought the graduation after party was the only celebration he was going to get. </p><p>"CONGRATULATIONS WATERMELON HEAD!!" Johnny yells as he gives him a hug. "Awe, guys you really shouldn't have" Mark smiles. "No, we should have. This is a big milestone you have completed, so therefore we MUST celebrate it!" Donghyuck says. He blows confetti in Mark's face and gives him a big hug. "We're so proud of you Markie" he whispers. Mark laughs and hugs his boyfriend back. "Thank you Hyuck." </p><p>Renjun swipes away a tear from his eye and smiles. Two weeks ago, Mark had a mental breakdown and a life crisis that involved a spirit. Now, he officially has a bachelor's degree and now is in the Neo Medical School for the Supernatural (It's a pretty long name for a medical department of the university in Renjun's opinion).</p><p>The party starts with the arrival of Mark. It's being held at a room of a community center the boys had managed to rent (they would've rented in District Dream if they had the bucks) with the little amount of money they'd scrapped together. The room is decorated with stringed light bulbs, a bunch of random watermelons (like.. actual watermelons) sitting at every table waiting to be dug into or be taken home (the college students who had come to this party will defiantly take the free watermelon). Music blasted through the speakers from Johnny at the DJ table as people danced like their lives depended on it at the front on the dance floor. </p><p>"Did you guys really make the watermelon cake?" Mark asks. "Yup! Well technically Jeno hyung and Jaemin hyung did" Chenle replies. Mark takes another bite of the cake. "It's so good! You guys are really good at baking a 3 tier cake!" </p><p>"It's all for you hyung" Jaemin laughs. Mark puts down his fork and smiles at his friends. "I can't thank you guys enough for not only the party, the cake, the gifts, and just being there for me throughout my college career." He gives them a bigger smile. "Thank you, so much guys." </p><p>"Wait but there's more!!" Renjun says. He pushes his chair back and brings out a large and wide box from underneath the table. "You hid it under there??" Jeno asks, equally as surprised as Mark. "Where else was I supposed to put it?" Renjun asks."The gift table?" Donghyuck says as he points to a large table at the back of the room with a bunch of graduation gifts. "Ah" is all Renjun says, but that doesn't really matter right now. He lays the huge box on the table and gestures Mark to open it. The vampire gently rips open the wrapping paper and opens the box. A handmade guitar with a nice drawing of a beach sitting at the bottom greets Mark from the box. "Woah!" Mark exclaims. "Did you hand craft this guitar?" </p><p>"Why, is it bad?" Renjun asks, panic laced in his voice. Mark shakes his head. "No, no, it's looks so professional! This is amazing Renjun! Thank you!" Renjun gives out a sigh of relief and smiles. "I'm glad you like it hyung. Play it to your heart's extent." Mark laughs and looks at the human. "Thank you Renjun." </p><p>"That is not all though hyung" Renjun says. He nudges Donghyuck in the stomach with his elbow to get his attention. "Ow, you didn't have to elbow me there!" Donghyuck whispers. The merman stands up from his seat and clears his throat. "Markus Leeukus. We have been together for the past 5 years. We had many fights, like that one time in the summer, and had made out many times." Jeno gags. Jaemin slaps him on the back to make him shut up. "I love you Mark" Donghyuck continues. "And I will never stop loving you." He takes out an envelope and hands it over to Mark. He accepts and opens it. His eyes widens as he brings out two plane tickets to Vancouver. "Sorry, I could only get a week there, the ticketing website was being a bitch with me and-" Mark interrupts him with a kiss. "Even a minute with you is precious. Thank you Hyuck." He whispers. Donghyuck's face reddens from the sudden lip contact. Then he hugs Mark and buries his face in the crook of his shoulder. Renjun coos at the sight. He looks at his friends. They were also smiling, and looking the happiest they have ever been. </p><p>Today's a great day. </p><p>.</p><p>"Hello" </p><p>"You made it!" Mark smiles. Gayoon and Harim, the latter in her new form, share a excited glance and look back at the vampire. Harim's revival was surprisingly fast. Usually it takes a whole month for a spirit to be revived. In Harim's case however, it only took two weeks. "Sorry, we had to some how worm our way out of the after school assembly, the principal is such as jerk" Harim says, shaking her head. "Here you go sunbae! We hope you like it!" Gayoon says. She hands over a gift wrapped in tissue paper to Mark. "Open it!" Harim says. Mark chuckles at her excitement and follows her request. It was a tote bag with the words "World's First Vampire Doctor" stitched on the front with a little stethoscope key chain hanging from the handle. "I love it! I'll make sure to use it as my school bag when I go back! Thank you guys so much!" Mark says. He hugs the girls with gratitude. "No problem sunbae. We wanted to cheer you up the best possible way, so we came up with this" Gayoon laughs. "Thank you girls, I'll cherish this with my heart." </p><p>"Hey, we heard you'll help us with revivals, when are you guys gonna start?" Jeno asks. "Ah, Dr. Kim told us to join after our college entrance exams. He said it's gonna take A LOT of time out of our hands" Harim says. "Which is a bummer cause we really want to do ittt" Gayoon adds after. The boys laugh. "I'm sure you guys will do great. Call us up whenever you need help, spirit wise or not" Jaemin says. "We will! Thank you so much! Congrats sunbae!" Gayoon says. "Thank you girls once again" Mark replies back. The group says their good byes to the girls as they walked off to meet their parents at another table. </p><p>"Hyung" Renjun says. Mark hums in question and turns to Renjun. "You have something ask Renjun?" Mark laughs. Renjun nods. "You remember when Harim was still a spirit and she was chasing us at that field?" Mark sits down and nods his head. "What did she whisper to you at the time?" Mark stares at Renjun, trying to go back to that time and smiles at the memory. "It.. was a lot, but she pretty much was telling me to have hope and never give up. That.. it wasn't my fault and she forgave me." Mark looks at the tote back and caresses the words. "I'm really lucky to have you guys in my life. That you guys are so supporting and helpful to me. I want to help you guys out like that too. To give you hope when you guys feel down and when you get stuck." </p><p>"Don't worry hyung, you already are doing that. You already give us the hope we need to move on in life." </p><p>Johnny sounds a air horn from the DJ booth. "Come on let's go partayy!!" Jaemin yells. The group laughs happily and get up to have the time of their life.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The take away from this chapter may not be clear, but the overall message is that when you guys are feeling down, always know that there are people there willing to support you guys. When you're feeling down, think of that one person in your life who you know loves you and cares for you. </p><p>Even the people you don't expect to care for you, does. So just remember that whenever you feel sad. </p><p>Also take mental breaks when needed! Your mental health comes first :)))</p><p>Alright! See you guys next week!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. District U</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>District U, the most mysterious place in Neo City;</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! This week is a short POV chapter. We are about to enter into Renjun's arc, one of the longest arcs in this fic (obviously), so this is going to be sort of a...build up to it. </p><p>Thanks for reading and enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>District U is a peculiar place. </p><p>It was the first district to be built in Neo City. Having been existed since the days of King Sejeong (though the Great King himself did not know about this city during his rule), old Korean houses still stay around today. Renjun had visited those houses as a field trip for his history course during his freshman year. Though they are interesting and all, he's more interested in the more haunted parts of the district. </p><p>Because, he's just so damn curious. </p><p>The human has learned in the same history course, that the old and abandoned part of the district is somewhere people never dare to go to. Back when Korea was under Japanese control, the city was revealed to the human eye for just a second because of a weak barrier. All humans a like went to visit the strange city. Maybe for protection from Japanese soldiers, maybe to persecute those living in the city. </p><p>There were too many people coming into the small city. They were asking too many favors, they were threatening to kill the supernatural and expose them if they didn't do what they said. </p><p>"I'll report you to the Japanese police if you don't hide me!!" one person said. </p><p>"We will get you, and we will experiment on you so that the emperor can learn how to kill your kind off" said a soldier. </p><p>The supernatural had enough. This was too much, this was getting out of hand. </p><p>Then, the war started; humans versus the supernatural. </p><p>The Japanese military had kidnapped young Korean boys to fight against the powerful faes and witches. Vampires and werewolves were put on the front lines to defend their city from these pesky humans. Those who had magic used their powers to inflict pain and suffering upon the humans. </p><p>Sooner or later, the war was over. Approximately 1,400 people had died during the war. The Council of Neo City had shut its doors from the human world. They created the portals of mirrors and windows and made sure that fate will only bring in those who are special. As for the human soldiers who had died, their spirits now haunt the old white buildings, having lost their lives, their loved ones, and the will to exist. </p><p>'"Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here?" are the questions these spirits had been asking themselves for the last 90 years. Their confusion turns into frustration. </p><p>And that frustration turns into heated anger. </p><p>That heated anger turns into violence and destruction. </p><p>Thus the white buildings of District U literally becomes a ghost town. A ghost town of death that is. Whenever a spirit becomes too irked, they usually join their old brethren at the back of the district. This makes this area too dangerous for anyone to walk into. No one dares to step foot onto the ground that holds the hollow apartments, therefore it is underdeveloped compared to the rest of the city. </p><p>Dangerous or not, Renjun had always wondered; why there? Why do these frustrated spirits fly to that area specifically? He asked Professor Qian and Doyoung about this, but they are equally as confused as he is. </p><p>Renjun would sigh at the questions he has about District U and go back to what he is doing, usually ending his thoughts with: "I don't like how most of the world's questions will never be answered." </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. 13. That One Filler Chapter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Donghyuck reminds Renjun on all of the times the human and Jaemin had flirted with each other.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HEY HEY HEY!!</p><p>Thanks for coming back! I missed you stranger! This is a filler chapter (obviously), and the next one will be a POV one. However, the next chapter is going to be the beginning of Renjun's arc, one of THE longest arcs in this fic so stay tuned! </p><p>As always, thanks for reading and enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Renjun" </p><p>"Yeah?" </p><p>"Why do you have my hoodie on again?" </p><p>Renjun freezes in the middle of tying his shoes. He slowly turns his head over his shoulder then whips it back to the front once he sees Jaemin standing in the middle of the living room, staring at him. </p><p>He quickly tries to shove the next shoe onto his foot. He doesn't hear the footsteps coming closer to him, as he was too busy trying to remember how to tie his shoes ("Seriously?? I just tied the other one!"). Suddenly, arms come around his body and hug him. Renjun's breath suddenly stops as Jaemin rests his head on his neck. </p><p>"Why are you wearing my hoodie?" </p><p>"I was cold" </p><p>"It's the middle of summer"</p><p>"Technically, summer just started" </p><p>Jaemin takes a moment to nuzzle the back of Renjun's nape with his nose before getting up and going to his room. </p><p>"Get some eggs while you're out, thanks." </p><p>.</p><p>Donghyuck snorts after hearing Renjun's retelling of what the latter likes to call "The Incident of the Dorms." </p><p>"Wow, you guys are really in it deep for each other huh? One moment you guys are cuddling on the couch, the next moment you guys are making out on it instead." Renjun makes a coughing fit and takes out a item from the shelf to observe the price. "It's not that bad Hyuck" he says after putting the item into his basket. "Well it may not seem that bad to you since you're so used to it! To us back in the outside world, it's really amusing yet frustrating to see you two viciously flirt with each other, but don't even get together." </p><p>Renjun whips his head towards his best friend in confusion. "'Viciously flirt?" Since when do we ever do that?" Renjun asks. Donghyuck raises an eyebrow, giving Renjun an smug face. Then that face turns into a fake thinking one. "Hmm, I don't know, like the time you guys held that mysterious eye contact at our last movie night?" </p><p>
  <i>3 Weeks Earlier</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Donghyuck's and Jeno's Dorm Room</i>
</p><p>The sound of popcorn popping in the microwave is heard from the kitchen as the boys get ready to binge watch the entire My Love is From Another Star series. Jaemin, Renjun, Donghyuck, and Mark get comfortable on the couch while Chenle and Jisung roll around on the blankets set up on the ground with Pangxie, Geran, and Robert sitting quietly and peacefully together in front of the couch. </p><p>"I can't believe everyone finished their exams already, am I really the only one who hasn't finished everything??" Jisung complains to his hyungs. "Well I got essays to finish so you're not completely alone." Chenle says. "Well that makes me feel better by a little, but I just don't get why a DANCE major needs so many courses! My time and money are crying in the hands of capitalism and the broken education system." Renjun shakes his head and giggles. It's funny seeing how Jisung was so ready for college, then once he set foot into his first class he suddenly wanted to go back to high school. "That's what you get from not doing any AP bucko" Mark says, scrolling through his phone. "That's easy for you to say! You're from Canada! There's no AP in Korea.." Jisung argues. "Jisung I went to the same high school as you guys did. Plus, OUR high school did offer AP." </p><p>"Why does our university accept AP anyway, we're not American" Jaemin wonders out loud. It's true, for some reason the university is run like an American one. It's like the founder of the university grew up in America and didn't want to look up how a Korean university ran cause she was lazy....</p><p>We're ignoring that last part.</p><p>Jeno comes out of the kitchen, carrying three bowls of popcorn in his hands. "Here take these, Hyuck help me out with the candy!" Donghyuck salutes his room mate and gets up from the couch to bring out the candy. They shock their friends when they came out with a huge ass bag of assorted chocolates and candy in a potato sack. </p><p>"Where the heck did you get that??" Renjun asks with genuine confusion and awe. "We got a good deal at Costco thanks to Johnny hyung" Donghyuck explains. The two room mates plop the gigantic bag on the floor at one end of the couch. "Let's start the drama!" Jeno says and presses play on the video. </p><p>The group quietly watch the drama, eyes glued onto the screen, popcorn and candy in their mouths. Somewhere during the 5th episode, Jaemin suddenly rests his head onto Renjun's shoulder. The other tenses from the sudden contact, then later relaxes as the episode continued. Then when the 6th episode gets ready to play, Renjun turns to Jaemin. The wolf was staring at him, as if he was waiting to get Renjun's attention the entire time. Wordlessly, the two peered into each other's eyes, studying everything from the color of the irises to the size of the pupil. Jaemin's eyes are so interesting to Renjun. They are soft yet so intense, to the point where they catch your attention and lock you in. </p><p>They are mesmerizing and.. so comforting. </p><p>"Ahem" The eye contact stops upon the cleared throat. Renjun and Jaemin stopped looking at each other and turned to Donghyuck who held a smug look on his face. </p><p>The two didn't touch each other or looked at each other for the rest of the event. </p><p>
  <i>Present Time</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Potion Market</i>
</p><p>"Ok, so that was what, one time?" Renjun says. He puts stems of dead flowers and energies of dead stars onto the conveyor belt. "Why the heck do you need so many dead things?" Donghyuck asks. "A fae wants a potion to kill off the weeds in Cherry Park. I told her she could kill them herself but apparently she doesn't know how to kill things, only grow." </p><p>"Aren't you like that too?" Donghyuck deadpans. "Well at least I'm not a fae, I'm a human I have excuses." Donghyuck rolls his eyes and shakes his head. Even the most sassy of people can get annoyed at their snarky smart ass best friends (that's why they are such a good match :3). "Well anyway, what about that time when you practically sat on Jaemin's lap in the bus?" </p><p>
  <i>2 weeks earlier</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Bus to the Incheon Airport</i>
</p><p>Renjun stumbles a bit as the bus makes a abrupt stop at the red light. He glares at the back of the driver's head for stopping like that. "Sit down Jun, you're gonna fall" Jaemin says. "I gotta hold on to my luggage" Renjun replies back. Jaemin sighs and gets up from his seat. The wolf was sitting in the back of the bus while his friends were sitting in the front. Renjun didn't want his luggage to slide down and up the aisle so he took the initiative to stand, but this bus driver wasn't making his life easy for him. </p><p>Jaemin takes the luggage and grabs Renjun's hand. He drags the both of them to the back of the empty bus seats. Jaemin puts the luggage on one end of the seat, taking up most of the room. "What if other people need to sit down? There's only one seat left!" Renjun says. Jaemin stares at Renjun for a moment while he's thinking of a solution. Then, he grabs Renjun's waist and plops him onto his lap. "Then you can sit right here" the wolf whispers. Renjun's face reddens from embarrassment, but then later leans into Jaemin's chest. The latter wraps his arms around Renjun's waist and rests his face on his shoulders. </p><p>"Gonna miss you" </p><p>"It's only going to be a week Jaem" </p><p>"...I know" </p><p>
  <i>Present Time</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Sandwiches ASAP</i>
</p><p>"There was no room in the bus!" </p><p>"The 7 of us were the only people in that bus from the mainland to the airport dumb ass." </p><p>Renjun huffs a "hmph!" and takes a bite out of his sandwich. It's been a while since the boys had went to Sandwiches ASAP. Most of them had spent their first week of summer out of the country, so they couldn't get together to eat sandwiches. </p><p>Donghyuck gives his best friend a dead stare as he chews his french fry. Renjun's very stubborn, literally nothing can change his mind. But this is Lee Donghyuck, the boy's smarter then you think. "Then what about that time when you guys almost kissed?" </p><p>"That was one time Hyuck." </p><p>"AHA! So you guys DID almost kiss on that day when we were chasing the lightning spirit! Pangxie was about to tell us before you "grounded" her!" Renjun freezes mid bite. Shit he's been caught, cover it up, cover it up! "I have no idea what you're talking about" Renjun says. "Ohohooo, going back on our words are we?" Donghyuck smirks. Oh how Renjun desperately wants to slap that smug look off of Donghyuck's face right now. "We really weren't about to kiss that time I swear" Renjun says. </p><p>"Ok, ok Huang I see you. Then when was the last time you almost did it?" </p><p>"We never did it since." </p><p>"Since what?" </p><p>"Since that time at the dorm-" </p><p>Renjun stops in the middle of talking and slaps his mouth close. His eyes widen and his face flushes bright red. Donghyuck begins laughing out loud obnoxiously from Renjun's reaction. "So you did almost kiss at that time!" Donghyuck says, wiping the tears coming out of his eyes from laughing too hard. "And I know you're lying about my other question. So tell me, when did you guys last almost locked lips?" </p><p>The human rolls his eyes. "I said we never done it after that time" he responds. "Really?" Donghyuck asks, not buying Renjun's answer for a second. "What did you guys first do when you came back from Jilin?" </p><p>Renjun freezes once again and winces. Donghyuck starts back his laughter claps his hands. "Wooo! This is comedy gold! Standing ovation!" the merman yells. The other customers in the restaurant don't pay attention to the loud cheers coming from the booth near the windows ("thank god" Renjun thinks). They're used to the loud banter that is the Dreamies. </p><p>"Tell me all about it Huang" Donghyuck says after laughing. Renjun shakes his head. "Oh come on, pleaseee! You know I'm not going to stop asking if you don't tell me, and that for SURE will annoy the hell out of you!!" The human sighs and glares at his best friend. </p><p>
  <i>Two Days Ago</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Renjun's and Jaemin's Dorm Room</i>
</p><p>It's been a day since Renjun had came back from Jilin. The boy was jet lagged so he woke up an hour earlier then he had expected. </p><p>"You're up early" Jaemin says coming out of his room. "Yeah, it's an hour faster in China" Renjun responds. He keeps a close eye on the pancakes on the pan, not noticing Jaemin creeping up behind him. Suddenly a pair of arms hug him from behind. This time, Renjun doesn't react. In fact, he leans into the touch, having missing it for a week. </p><p>"How was your trip?" Jaemin whispers, also keeping watch of the pancakes (Renjun had made two separate batters, ones with chocolate chips and one with left over flower petals from his potions). "It was nice, I had a great time with my family and friends" Renjun whispers back. </p><p>Jaemin snuggles his head against Renjun's shoulder. "Sounds fun" They stay like that quietly, watching the pancakes bubble and occasionally moving to flip them over and placing them to a plate. "What did you do when I was gone?" Renjun whispers. "I was helping Doyoung hyung as usual.." </p><p>"Did.. you miss me?" </p><p>Jaemin gives a small nod against Renjun's shoulder. "Did you miss me?" </p><p>Renjun did. He was thinking about the wolf while he was in Jilin. Wondering how he was doing, what he was doing. </p><p>"Yes" the human answers. </p><p>Renjun looks up at Jaemin. The other was staring at the pancakes, eyes softer then they usually are. Jaemin notices Renjun looking at him and gives eye contact back. Once again, their eyes are locked. This time, Renjun inches closer to Jaemin's face. His eyes move from Jaemin's to his lips. The latter moves a little closer too, to quicken the progress. Their faces get closer to the point of their noses touching. Renjun closes his eyes, Jaemin closes his. Their lips touch by a little when suddenly Jaemin whips his head away and flips one of the pancakes on the pan. </p><p>"Wow, you're good at sensing things." </p><p>"I smelt it burning." </p><p>Renjun gives a small smile, disappointed that their first kiss was interrupted. </p><p>
  <i>Present Time</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Sandwiches ASAP</i>
</p><p>Donghyuck's and Jungwoo's mouths hung open at the story Renjun told them (Renjun doesn't really know when the fox came in, and quite frankly he's frightened). "Tell us more! Tell us more!" Jungwoo begs. He was squatting in front of their table, hands hanging off of the table like a puppy. "That was it hyung, but that was saddd. You were about to make contact but got interrupted by that stupid pancake!!" Donghyuck adds on.</p><p>"Down with the pancakes!" </p><p>"Hyung I don't think you should say that since you sell pancakes." </p><p>Jungwoo looks at Renjun then shakes his head. "Technically, I make pancake SANDWICHES" Ah yes, Renjun had forgotten about Jungwoo's weird ass sandwich combinations. They tasted well though, surprisingly. "Oh that reminds me, I need a favor from you guys." </p><p>"No we are NOT going to grab a bunch of animals for you to keep as pets in the restaurants" Renjun says. "What? Why not?" Jungwoo pouts. "Who the hell wants to keep a emu in their restaurant? Do you WANT to scare off your customers??" Donghyuck asks. "Oh.. don't worry the emu phase is over. I mainly wanted them for their eggs, but I can just buy those at the market anyway, I'm gonna need you to get me a gallon of mala tang, three strings from yellow yo-yo's, a 48 lbs jack fruit, and a chocolate bar." Renjun and Donghyuck give Jungwoo a unimpressed look. The dude is always putting them at strange tasks for the restaurant whether it's taming a peacock or finding the smallest grain of rice they can find in the millions of bags at the supermarket (that day low key traumatized Renjun, he couldn't eat rice for a month which pained him). They get 10 bucks per item they get him and 20 dollars for any animal hunts so at least they get paid. </p><p>"I'll give you a list and the money you can use to buy these. Thanks!" the gumiho says after while and walks into the kitchen. Renjun and Donghyuck groan and get back to their sandwiches. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun has a crush on Na Jaemin. </p><p>Of course, you already know that. This wouldn't be a renmin fic would it. </p><p>The Chinese boy knows that Jaemin somewhat feels similar. He isn't some oblivious school girl from a shoujo anime. </p><p>Renjun can't exactly pinpoint the day he had started to like Jaemin. Was it when he first saw the attractive male walk into the dorm room? Was it when Jaemin had opened up to Renjun by telling him he was a hybrid? Or was it from that night from making the gigantic cake? </p><p>The human doesn't know, and quite honestly he doesn't really care. </p><p>Cause he knows he likes Jaemin. There's just something about the wolf that makes Renjun feel.. safe and loved. It's comforting, and the human wants to make Jaemin feel the same way when he is around him. That he is not alone and that.. he is loved and protected. </p><p>And that he will always be there for him, despite the circumstances. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun's mouth falls open when he opened the door to his dorm room. </p><p>When he came home, he expected to see Jaemin sitting on the couch playing with Pangxie</p><p>In human form. </p><p>"Oh.. my.. god.." </p><p>The dog on the couch turns his head to the door way, Pangxie turning as well. </p><p>"You never told me your dog form was a shiba inu!!" Renjun squeals. The human quickly goes into the room, closing the door and taking off his shoes. He rushes into the kitchen to put down the groceries then runs out to the living room to play with a shiba Jaemin. The dog amusingly watches all of this, sitting on the ground, head tilt. "Awee you're so cutee!!" Renjun exclaims. He scratches and pets Jaemin's head and hugs him. Jaemin responds by licking his face, making Renjun laugh. "Hahaha, that tickles!!" Renjun laughs out loud. The shiba inu stops licking the human's face and starts to turn back into his human form, a pink cloud surrounding him. No longer was there a shiba inu, now there is a smiling Jaemin sitting in his place. </p><p>"I'm getting the feeling you like the inu me more then the actual me" Jaemin laughs. "No no! It's just, Gougou is also a shiba inu so I'm kinda biased." Jaemin chuckles. He brings his grinning face closer to Renjun's. They sit with barely enough space in between them on the floor, smiling like there's no tomorrow. "Did you get the eggs?" Jaemin whispers. "Uh huh!" Renjun says back. "Good, good, we can make crepes today." Renjun smiles more brightly at the thought of making crepes with his room mate. Standing around the kitchen, playing around, occasionally catching each other's eyes and blushing. </p><p>Sounds real nice. </p><p>Pangxie interrupts their moment by clanking her claws. She scurries up to Renjun to show a beautiful purple seashell she had found on the beach. "Oh that is dazzling shell Pangxie! Did you find this yourself?" Pangxie clanks her claws as a yes. "I took her with me and Jeno to the beach today. We were seashell hunting together" Jaemin says, looking at the little crab with delight. "Well that sounds so much fun! We're gonna need to get you a bigger tank for those shells of yours, don't we?" Renjun coos, letting Pangxie climb onto his hand and lifting her up. "Come on, let's get you clean up and you can play more with your new shells" Renjun says, standing up. "I'll get everything ready" Jaemin says and walks into the kitchen.</p><p>Renjun yells a thanks before walking into his room. He looks at the little corner he had set up for Pangxie. Shells on top of shells were starting to pile up. "Wow that's a lot of shells" Renjun says, eyes widen at the pile sitting in Pangxie's tank. The crab shyly looks down at its feet before looking at her owner. "I think we're gonna need to send some back yes?" Pangxie looks back at her pile and sadly pinches her claws. "Awe don't be sad Pang" Renjun laughs. "There's a lot of duplicate shells sitting there, so we can sort them out and send them back to the beach. I'm sure you don't need multiples of the same kind of shell. The crab brightens up and gives a happy clank. The two then started to sort out the shells until Jaemin came in to get Renjun for crepe making.</p><p>They took Pangxie outside too of course, she likes to play with her shells in front of the TV. </p><p> </p><p>(Someone remind me to write a bonus chapter or something of Renjun and Donghyuck getting those items for Jungwoo.. thanks)</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I don't usually like writing a lot of romantic fluffy stuff so enjoy this chapter cause its gonna be the most romantic content you're gonna get from this fic.</p><p>Well...maybe it will be who knows.</p><p>Also someone better remind me to write a bonus oneshot about Renjun's and Donghyuck's food gathering adventure when this series is done *^*</p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0027"><h2>27. Renjun's Fear</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>What Renjun is afraid of</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>
    <i>TW!!: MENTIONS BEHAVIOR THAT IS SIMILAR TO AN ANXIETY ATTACK. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.</i>
  </b>
</p><p>Renjun doesn't like fire. </p><p>Renjun is actually afraid of fire. </p><p>He doesn't know where this phobia came from. All he knows is that it resonated since he was like 5. </p><p>It's not even like a light fear either. He gets really freaked out when he sees a flame or two. His breathing gets faster, his heart rate shoots through the roof. Sweat droplets form on his forehead, he looses all feeling in his muscles. The human even faints when he sees something gigantic, like a bonfire or something. </p><p>Renjun remembers every fire he saw. From the time when he saw a campfire at his 2nd grade field trip to when he went with his high school friends to a K-BBQ restaurant. He just buries all of them in the back of his mind. It never disappears, but at the least its out of the way so it doesn't bother him in his day to day life. </p><p>Does his friends know? Well no, except for Jaemin. Though even Jaemin doesn't realize how bad it is. To be honest how do you break it to your friends that you have a phobia that gives you the feeling of childhood trauma? </p><p>Tell him, cause Renjun doesn't know. </p><p>They eventually found out though. Not because Renjun told them, but because of a incident. </p><p>Around a month after the group started the revivals, they were in the midst of chasing after a lightning spirit in Cherry Park. </p><p>It started out normally. The spirit was zooming around the park like a fruit fly while the boys were chasing after it. It didn't shoot lighting at them so that was good. That way, didn't have to worry about dodging its bolts AND having to catch it at the same time. </p><p>Things got worse however, when the lightning spirit had flew into the playground area. A lot of the kids didn't mind the neon yellow blob flying around their heads and around the equipment. Well except for this one boy. </p><p>You know kids, they do stupid stuff. Renjun had been lead to the playground by the spirit and came just in time when the boy was about to throw a rock at the spirit. "NO DON'T DO THAT!!" Renjun shouted towards the boy. He ran as fast as he could to stop him, but it was too late. The rock already was in the air after being launched by this child's tiny hands and towards the spirit. It doesn't hit the spirit in the core or anything, but it hit it nonetheless. Panicked, the lightning spirit throws a lightning bolt at the boy. Renjun sprints and grabs him to move out of the way. The bolt, hits a bush instead and sets it on fire. Suddenly, the calm playground turned into a chaotic mess. Children began to scream, their guardians began to scoop them up and run out of the park. The boy in Renjun's arms, pushes them down and runs to his mother. </p><p>The human on the other hand, can't move. </p><p>He watches in horror as the fire began to set aflame to all of the other plants around the park. It moved like a snake through tall grass, slithering towards every flower and bush it can find. Renjun backs up against a tree, his eyes widen, his hands gripping the gravel under him. His vision flashes back between the park and to a forest that is caught on fire, a image that looks much more terrifying. Renjun's breathing gets faster, he can feel his heart racing 120 miles per minute.  His vision keeps flashing back and forth until suddenly, a image of a large fire spirit creeps in front of him. It slowly inches towards his face. The human can only look at the spirit, horrified while shaking his head. He tries to move, but his back is already against a tree. "Please don't" he whimpers under his breath. Renjun turns his head towards to his side and squeezes his eyes shut. Then suddenly, he feels someone pick him up and carry him to another area. </p><p>"Renjun? Renjun are you there? Get your senses together!!" </p><p>Renjun opens his eyes. He slowly turns his head towards to front. He gets startled to see a little boy in front of him. Though when he blinks, the boy was gone. In his place instead, was Jaemin, who stared at him with much concern. In the back, Renjun can see Donghyuck and Jisung putting out the fires with their elementals, and Jeno, Mark, and Chenle containing the spirit in a capsule. "Renjun." Renjun looks back at the wolf in front of him. "Are..you ok?" Jaemin asks. The human opens his mouth to say something, but all that comes out are tears streaming down his face. Jaemin sighs and hugs the human tight. "It's ok, you're ok. I'm here" the wolf whispers. Somehow, those words calmed Renjun down. They were familiar, comforting. He relaxes in Jaemin's arms and rests his head on his shoulder. </p><p>"Thank you" he whispers back. </p><p>Oh the interrogation session Renjun had to go through when they got back to the hospital. </p><p>His friends all scolded him for not telling them about this deep rooted fear Renjun had. "How was I supposed to tell you guys out of the blue?" he asked. "Still, it's important to let us know before hand so we can keep a close eye on you" Doyoung says. "I am not a baby, I don't need you guys to keep a "close eye" on me" Renjun argues back. </p><p>"Well at the very least, the next time we find out that you have a phobia that's bad enough to make you freeze up like a deer in headlights, we better not find out during spirit hunt!" Donghyuck yells. </p><p>It was a frustrating talk, but the group managed to make it through. </p><p>When will Renjun know about the source of this phobia? He doesn't know. </p><p>Though, he's getting the feeling, he'll know soon. </p><p>Very, soon. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0028"><h2>28. 14. That Gosh Darn Moomin Painting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A typical day for the group...</p><p>Kinda</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I don't know what this chapter is to be honest.</p><p>It may seem like a filler chapter from the surface, but there are details that help push the story further.</p><p>So I consider this to be the first chapter of Renjun's arc</p><p>...</p><p>Anyways, thanks for coming back to read the story! Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Why are paints so expensive in Neo City?" </p><p>Renjun glares at the price for one generic paint bottle. </p><p>"Why are they 8 dollars?"</p><p>He ran out of paint.</p><p>"Do I really have to make my own paint?" </p><p>Because of that stupid Moomin painting. </p><p>Renjun doesn't really know why he started that Moomin painting, he doesn't even like Moomin that much anymore. Something about that white hippo is just.. so endearing. Endearing enough to make a 5 ft painting out of. </p><p>Yes, you read that right; a five foot fucking painting of Moomin. </p><p>"If you can make potions I'm sure you can make paint hyung" Jisung says. He sips on his boba tea and chews the tapioca pearls before speaking again. "I think you can get flowers for paint somewhere." Renjun sighs and puts the paint back on the shelf. "I hate capitalism" he groans. Renjun turns to Jisung and Chenle. He doesn't really know why they wanted to come with him to get paint. Were they bored? Possibly. Are they out of stupid stuff to do? Most likely. </p><p>"Do you guys have anything to buy? We're going to the florist" Renjun asks. Chenle and Jisung look at each other, then shake their heads at Renjun. They both had their straws in their mouth. Renjun is a bit creeped out on how they were sipping their milk tea at the same speed, with the same amount of pearls going into their mouths. Then again, he's creeped out by most of everything they do together. </p><p>Before they leave the store, Doyoung sends the group a text message regarding a spirit on radar. </p><p>.</p><p>
  <i>Fire spirit spotted around the shopping mall! Make sure to have 119 ready just in case the property catches on fire and tell the mall employees to keep an eye out!</i>
</p><p>
  <b>10:48am</b>
</p><p>
  <i>Renjun come to the hospital, the rest of you come to the mall</i>
</p><p>
  <b>10:48am</b>
</p><p>"Let's take the bus together, the hospital is on the way to the mall" Renjun says. Chenle and Jisung both nod and walk together with Renjun to the bus stop, keeping a particular eye on their hyung. </p><p>.</p><p>When you're in a situation where you have something that is stopping you from helping, you feel icky. </p><p>Like you're completely healthy, nothing is wrong with you physically, yet there's something holding you back from helping your peers in dangerous situations. </p><p>That's what Renjun feels like. He feels bad for not helping out the group at the mall. Granted, it's better for him to stay out of a fire spirit case, but he feels handicapped when the group goes without him. </p><p>He feels useless, and he hates it. </p><p>He's already a human. Being a human despite having an elemental power still makes Renjun weaker then his friends. He can't create vines or branches out of thin air, he needs to grow them from a existing plant. </p><p>He can use potions, but what good can potions really do in a situation where you must fight? </p><p>Then, there's the part where he's physically weaker then everyone else. Renjun runs slower then the group and often needs more time to catch his breath. Sometimes his friends don't really notice this until Renjun really can't run anymore with them and can only walk. </p><p>Being useless makes Renjun feel icky. </p><p>Being human makes Renjun feel useless. </p><p>.</p><p>"WE CAUGHT IT HOLY SHIT!!" Donghyuck yells as he walks into the office. "We did it! We caught out first fire spirit! YEEEEEE!!!" Chenle shouts after. Renjun smiles as his friends jump around in victory. They were never able to catch a fire spirit in the past, this is the first time they did. "Great job! Now you have to find hints for its past life!" Doyoung says. The doctor laughs when the group groans. Catching a spirit was hard, but recollecting memories for a lost life was whole other objective from hell. </p><p>The group celebrates by drinking juice and eating the cookies Doyoung had bought from the supermarket a couple days ago. Renjun, doesn't say anything and only smiles, though the expression on his face is a bit sour. </p><p>Renjun was picking at his cookie when Jaemin catches his attention by clearing his throat. Renjun hums in confusion. "I uh.. got burnt.." Jaemin says. He shows a burn on his forearm to Renjun. The human's eyes widen in panic as he jumps from his seat. "Why didn't you say anything? It's been five minutes since you came in here!" Renjun scolds. He scans his arms for anything else other then the burn. "Does it hurt? Why didn't it heal?" he asks. "I can't really heal myself from burns, only small cuts. Can you treat it for me?" Jaemin asks. Renjun nods his head and turns to look for Doyoung. The doctor wasn't there. </p><p>Jaemin tells the shorter, "The first aid kit's in the lab. Jeno had left it there after treating himself after a lightning spirit burned him." Renjun tsks and leads Jaemin to the lab. "Hey, where are you going?" Donghyuck asks. "Treating a burn!" Renjun yells back. </p><p>Once they get to the lab, Renjun finds the red box sitting on the table and immediately gets to work. Remembering how to treat spirit burns, he dabs the pink liquid onto Jaemin's arm with a cotton ball. The wolf winces a little from the sting, but doesn't show it to Renjun. "When you get burned, do something don't just sit there, my god" Renjun whispers. He bandages the last of the burn then puts everything back in the first aid kit. "Are you ok? Do you need anything else?" </p><p>Jaemin shakes his head. Renjun lets go of a breath then tries to get up from his seat. "Renjun wait" Jaemin says a little more gently. Renjun raises an eyebrow and sits back down. "Are you ok? You seem pretty sad." The human bites his lips in hesitation. "No..Yes?... I don't know.." he confesses. "You guys caught your first fire spirit so I get you want to celebrate, but.. I feel like I shouldn't be there when you guys do." Jaemin tilts his head. "Why not? We don't want you to be excluded." Renjun winces and nods. "Yeah a-and I don't want that either, don't get me wrong! It.. I don't know.. I didn't do ANYTHING to help you guys. I sort of feel like I'm there for no reason.." </p><p>Jaemin grabs Renjun's hand gently and rubs it with his thumb. "Renjun, you're part of our team. Even if you're not there, you are always doing something. Don't feel guilty for not being able to be there with us." Renjun lifts his head and smiles a bit. Jaemin smiles back and looks at their hands. Renjun watches as Jaemin studies their hands very closely, eye scanning each finger and each piece of skin. "Your birthmark is so cute. It's small just like you" </p><p>"Hey!" Renjun laughs. Jaemin chuckles from his reaction and makes eye contact with Renjun. "It's also special, just like you. Never forget that Renjun." Renjun reddens a little from the comment. They hold the stare a little longer before Jaemin breaks it. "I heard you were going to the florist with Chenle and Jisung before the whole spirit thing happened. Is it ok if I joined? It's pretty boring back home once Pangxie takes her nap." Renjun giggles and nods. "Of course, the more the merrier!" </p><p>"Can we join too?" Renjun and Jaemin turn to the door. Donghyuck, Jeno, and Mark were poking their heads into the room. "Also, when we want you in our party, we want you in our party, no matter what you do!" Donghyuck says, pointing at the human. Renjun rolls his eyes, though he keeps the grin on his face. "Of course, I need assistants for my paint hunt!" Renjun says, standing up and putting his hands on his hips. </p><p>Donghyuck salutes Renjun with a "aye captain!" and gestures Mark to get the others. "We're taking your car!" Donghyuck says. "Why? Can't we just walk? The traffic is terrible" Mark complains. "We live in a city hyung, the traffic will always be terrible" Donghyuck is heard replying back as they walk back to the office. </p><p>Renjun and Jaemin would follow them with the first aid kit. </p><p>.</p><p>The group parks on the street in District U. They get out of the car and walk to a small flower shop that sits comfortably in the corner of the street. "We should get some rice cake soup after" Mark suggests. Renjun nods, he was getting quite hungry since he didn't eat any of the cookies back at the office. </p><p>The human opens the door to the shop, ringing a bell to let the shop keeper someone has come. "Welcome!" the shop keeper announces. "Can I help you guys with anything?" The shopkeeper was a small man with bright red hair that laid on top of his head. He was tying a white apron around his waist, while wearing green gloves on his hands. "Hi, we are looking for some flowers that can be used to make paint" Renjun says. The man puts his hands on his hips and looks around the tiny shop. "Flowers for paint... ah!" The man leads Renjun to a certain section. "The flowers here have a nice pigment and a great texture when it comes to paint. Feel free to look around." </p><p>Renjun thanks the man, then he turns to the selection of flowers the shopkeeper had led him to. The rest of the group began to look around the small shop themselves, not particularly looking for something, but just to window shop. "Look Jisung! It's a snapdragon!" Chenle says. Jisung stops looking at the blue roses and comes over to where Chenle is. The yellow and orange flowers look up at the boys and say hello, waving its little leaf at them. "Hello! How are you doing today?" Chenle asks. The snapdragons look at each other in confusion, unsure of what Chenle had said. </p><p>In the left back corner of the shop stood Jeno and Jaemin, looking at the flowers that are usually used for potions made by wizards and witches. Jeno takes a whiff of the baby breath in front of him and hums in delight. "They smell like wishful potions!" Jeno says to Jaemin. "That's right, because they're the main ingredient of wishful potions" the shopkeeper laughs. He walks out of the counter into the main part of the store to put in new pots on stock for those who want to buy them. "Hyung, can we get a snapdragon?" Jeno and Jaemin turn their attention from a bright pink Moon Cherry Blossom to Chenle and Jisung pointing at a confused snapdragon flower. "They don't understand our language like most things do" Jaemin explains as he and Jeno walk over. Chenle pouts. Jisung sighs in defeat, then he gets an idea. "Renjun hyung!" Renjun hums. The store was small enough for them to talk across the room. "Can you teach us how to speak flower?" Renjun turns to Jisung's direction and spots the poor snapdragon. "You're going to have to ask someone like Dohyun. Flower language is hard learn." </p><p>A second sigh is released from Jisung's mouth. He turns to Chenle and gets startled to see him swaying left to right with the flower. "Look it's dancing with me!" Chenle excitedly says. The younger stares at his best friend and the snapdragon in awe and joins them. Donghyuck amusingly looks at the two and pats on Mark's shoulder to get the older to see. "Awe that's cute" Mark coos. Renjun finishes gathering the flowers he needs and heads towards the counter to pay while his friends are dancing with a snapdragon flower. </p><p>(The flower was so confused, it had no choice but to dance with the boys. Not gonna lie, she had a good time.) </p><p>.</p><p>The rice cake soup shop was bustling with people when the group came in. Renjun was taken a back a little. The last time he was here, it was closed so the room was dark, empty, and quiet. Now since it's rush hour, it was bright with people chattering away at their respective tables, drinking and eating their soups with a variety of side dishes. </p><p>"Sunbaes!" Gayoon greets. "Go ahead and sit at that table in the corner and I'll get right to you" The boys thank Gayoon and goes to sit at the table she pointed at. It was snuggled in a corner with another right next to it. There were only five chairs so Mark had to ask another table for two more. "I really miss that snapdragon" Chenle pouts. "She was so cute!" Jisung agrees. Renjun giggles and shakes his head. "Guys, she didn't understand what you were saying." </p><p>"That's why we must learn her language so we can play with her!" the leprechaun announces. Donghyuck raises a eyebrow and asks, "you're determined to learn something during the summer?" Chenle and Jisung nod like bobble heads. "Of course! I am able to learn languages quickly, and Jisung here is able to talk to foxes so naturally we can succeed" Chenle says proudly. Right when Renjun is about to say something, Gayoon comes to their table with some menus. "Hey guys! Thanks for coming to our shop! Sorry for the wait, rush hour is usually very busy" she says while she's handing out one page lamented menus. "It's ok, we know how lunch hour goes. Well Jeno knows since he's the only one working at a restaurant but we get it" Mark says. Gayoon laughs and points to the remaining menu in her hand. "We have a small variety of items so our menus are small, but I can assure you the food here is delicious!" </p><p>"Thanks Gayoon" Renjun laughs. The interaction ends at that note as another customer calls for Gayoon's attention. The group then looks through the one page menu. There were only 10 items on the menu, all of them being stews or soups. Of course, Renjun's eyes zero onto the rice cake soup, the number one thing on the menu. "Dang, these all sound so good!" Donghyuck says. "What are you guys gonna order?" Mark asks. "Kimchee stew" Jeno says. "I'm going to have kimchee stew too, they use cow blood in their broth for vamps" Jaemin says. When it comes to order, the boys say what they want. Jeno and Jaemin get their stew, Chenle, Renjun, and Mark get rice cake soup, while Donghyuck and Jisung get short rib soup. Their table then is littered with different side dishes from acorn jelly, to spiced garlic, to of course, kimchee. After a while, their soups and stews came out and were placed on the already cluttered table. This might be the most Renjun has eaten since he came to Korea. </p><p>"Thank you for the meal!" the boys shout to Gayoon's mother. She smiles and waves at the boys from the kitchen. "Eat well boys!" she yells back and goes back to cook another meal for other customers. The group digs into their meal, immediately getting hit with nostalgia of their mother's cooking. "I should call my mom today" Jeno says, and scoops some rice and puts it into his stew. "I should too! I suddenly miss her" Renjun says after eating a piece of rice cake. They enjoy their meal until every last piece is gone. They eat all of their rice, all of their soups and stew, and all of their side dishes making Gayoon's mother swell in pride when she visits their table. "I'm so glad you guys ate! You all looked so skinny the last time I saw you so I wanted to give you a good meal." The boys thank Gayoon's mother with a big thank you and a bow. She laughs and asks them to get up. "No, no I'm glad I was able to feed you. Come back whenever you guys are really hungry ok? Don't just eat junk food!" They thank her once again and promise to come back when they're starving or miss home. They pay for their meals (which were surprisingly cheap) and decided to visit the shaman shop that stayed in the same room as the restaurant. </p><p>As Jeno opens the door to the store, they all gasp in awe at all of the charms, statues, and bottles of different potion ingredients sitting in the tiny room. "Hi boys!" Gayoon's father greets as they all walk in. "I see you guys ate! Was the food good?" he laughs. They all nod their heads like little puppies making the older man laugh even more. "I'm glad you like my wife's cooking. She has a real knack for food you know! Anyways, what brings you to the store? Need anything for spirit hunting?" </p><p>"No not really, we're just looking around. Thank you Mr. Kim" Jaemin replies. The man nods with a smile. "Don't be afraid to ask any questions boys" Gayoon's father sits back down at his seat behind the cashier and gets back to his book. The store was not big, but it was long and narrow. Two couches is sat facing each other with a coffee table in between next to the cashier, in front of a shelf of medicinal herbs from China (Renjun painfully remembers having to drink mixtures from those herbs to "get stronger and taller." Maybe that's where his powers come from) and its brethren filled the rest of the store. As he passes by the cashier, Renjun is suddenly stopped by Mr. Kim. "Yes sir?" he asks. He gets stunned when the man's face was suddenly so grim and serious. "Renjun" he says in a low tone. He opens the drawer to his table and brings out a purple glass bead bracelet. He beckons for Renjun's wrist, which the boy offers. He ties the bracelet around his wrist tightly then looks up at Renjun. "Renjun, the spirits and I had a talk earlier regarding your fate. It is intertwined with many dangers. We worry that you will get hurt." </p><p>Renjun raises an eyebrow. Why that's an odd thing to say. "Do not take this bracelet off at any circumstances. Especially when you're spirit hunting. The energy in the beads of this bracelet shall protect and warn you from any harm. Also-" he points to Jaemin. "If you feel scared, stay near Jaemin. He will be there to shield you." Renjun turns to where the wolf was. He was occupied with watching Donghyuck sniffing a small container of berries then immediately regretting it after. "He has protected you before, so he can protect you again." Renjun turns back to the man. He assumes that he was talking about the times Jaemin had shielded Renjun from spirits when they were out. "Let him answer your questions when he wants to. The time for your questions to be answered has not come yet, but it will soon. Keep you gift of curiosity Renjun, but don't let it get to the best of you." </p><p>Renjun stares at the man with confusion and worry written on his face. He hasn't got a single idea of what he is talking about, but figures he should trust him. This man is a shaman after all. He gets all of his information from the spirits lingering around this world. "Thank you sir" Renjun whispers. "I'll make sure to take care of the bracelet." The man breaks his serious expression with a small smile. "Remember that you are stronger then you think Renjun. Never forget that." </p><p>"Guys! Another fire spirit has been found in District V!!" </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun had decided to help by playing dispatch back at the hospital. "Go straight to District V!! I can run through the bridges!" he had told them. Knowing that he could run out of energy from running across the long bridge, Jaemin carried Renjun back to the hospital using his super speed. "Be careful out there ok?" Renjun shouts. Jaemin looks back at Renjun and smiles. "Don't worry, we will" he says before taking off again to District V. After that note, Renjun sprints to the lab, taking the fire escape instead of the elevator. </p><p>Once he got to the lab, he bursts into the office. "Wow you got here fast!" Doyoung says. "Here, call these list of people to get out of the area, but first call the fire department and tell them to get to District V." Renjun nods and takes the call list. He first calls 119 to alert them of any possible fires in the area. He calls all of the businesses that the spirit is close to. They all comply, though except for one. </p><p>"You have to get out of the area!" Renjun exclaims in Chinese. "There is a fire spirit near your store and if you don't get out in time, you'll get hurt!" </p><p>"I have a bushiness to run! What about my building? What about the profit? What about my items! I can't just leave those!" the man on the phone shouts back. Renjun pinches the bridge of his nose in agony. "Sir, you have to go before-" </p><p>"Who are you? Why are you even calling me?" the man demands. "I am an assistant to Dr. Kim Doyoung from the Neo City Hospital, so if you can sir-" </p><p>"Assistant?? Bring the actual doctor to the phone then I'll believe you!" Renjun looks around the office for the doctor. "Hyung, someone wants to talk to you." Doyoung rolls his eyes and gets up from his desk. "These people I swear, keep a look out for the spirit on the radar." Renjun runs over to Doyoung's desk and give him the phone. "Hello?" Doyoung answers in a annoyed tone. Renjun in the meantime takes a seat at Doyoung's chair. He gets stunned by the map with many details and complicated keys that was sitting on the computer. "So this is the radar" Renjun thinks. He spots a blinking red dot zooming down a street in the district. "This must be the spirit!" Renjun thinks again. He keeps a close eye on the dot.</p><p>It was planning to leave District V. </p><p>Quickly, Renjun takes out his own phone and dials Jaemin. He answers right away. "Renjun! Is everything ok???"</p><p>"Yes, everything back here is fine. Jaemin, the fire spirit is about to leave District V!" Renjun exclaims. A "what?" and a few shuffling is heard from the other line. "Where is it heading" Jaemin says into the phone. The human spots the red dot heading for District U through Cherry Park. "District U!" After Renjun's answer Jaemin hangs up the phone. The latter's roommate then puts down his phone and keeps his eye on the red dot. "What's happening?" Doyoung asks after he gets off of the phone. "The spirit is heading towards District U. I just told Jaemin to go after it."</p><p>"Ah" Doyoung says. "Then just let it go." Renjun takes his eyes off of the dot and looks at Doyoung with confusion. "What? Why? What if it burns down District U?"</p><p>"It's going to go to the back part of the District so just leave it" The doctor replies back. He wasn't even paying attention to the chase anymore, his focus shifted to a clipboard filled with his patient's vitals. "Tell Jaemin to leave it Renjun" Doyoung says another time before heading out of the office without an extra word. The human doesn't move to the pick up the phone. He was stunned. </p><p>His phone starts to ring on the desk. He checks the caller ID then answers it. "Did you catch it?" </p><p>Jaemin sighs. "No, it disappeared into the back of District U." </p><p>.</p><p>Thankfully the group came back to the hospital without any burns or other injuries. Funny enough, nothing was burned down. Usually fire spirits have a habit of setting everything on fire, but for some reason this one didn't inflict any kind of damage to the buildings or the people. </p><p>Doyoung sent them all home after that, but of course they didn't want to go home. </p><p>"It just poof! Disappeared into the night sky like a raccoon!" </p><p>"Donghyuck, the heck is that supposed to mean?" Jeno asks. Donghyuck sighs and slides down in his seat. "I have no idea, I'm going insane." </p><p>The group sat in Mark's car in the parking lot with no intention to move. They lost the spirit to District U. This is the very first time something like this has happened and they don't know how to feel about it. "I say, to let it go. It's not like we can go there and grab it, that area's restricted" Mark says. "Well not really, the Joseon side is open" Renjun says. "But only those with authorization can go in" Jaemin adds on. The human bites his lips and looks down at his shoes. He agrees that they should just leave it alone, but something's just gnawing at him to go get it. To take it and revive it. The rest of the group is feeling like this too. </p><p>In the middle of their ponder, they suddenly hear a knock on the window. Doyoung was looking in and glaring at the boys. Mark turns on the engine and rolls the window down. </p><p>"Hyung?" Jaemin says with confusion. </p><p>"Give me your capsules." </p><p>The boys share panicked glances then at the doctor. "Wait what why? Are we getting fired or something??" Donghyuck asks. Doyoung shakes his head. His eyebrows were knitted together, and his posture was on guard. "I just got a vision" Doyoung says. </p><p>"A vision?" Renjun asks. Oh yes, Doyoung is a ghost. The man will occasionally get visions from fate when the mysterious force believes its time. Jaemin briefly told Renjun about it, saying it happened only a few times during his childhood, so it's a big deal when Doyoung does get visions. </p><p>"I can't tell you guys what I saw because it was too complicated, and.. it had details that fate doesn't want you to know just yet, but it involved you boys getting severely hurt. To avoid this, I need you to give me your capsules and suspend you from spirit hunting for the rest of the month." </p><p>"But you're not supposed to go against fate's course though" Jaemin says. "I know, but it's too risky. You guys were thinking of going to District U weren't you? To catch that spirit?" </p><p>Well..yeah, the boys were just having a conversation about it. </p><p>"I can't let you guys go, it's too dangerous. Hand me your capsules."</p><p>"But!-"</p><p>"Jaem please" Doyoung says in a scolding tone. He looks at the vampire with a stern expression, then gestures the group to get out of the van. When they did, Doyoung would instruct Mark to grab the extra capsules they had in the car. Mark hands him the bag and asks the rest to give him theirs. "Jeno and Jaem, I'm going to need you guys to give me the ones you have at home. The only person I expect at the hospital is Mark, but even then he is to only be in the cardiovascular ward." The group doesn't answer. The doctor looks at them and sighs. "Guys, I know is so sudden, but what I saw was scary. Not only did you guys get hurt, but other people did too, and I can't let that happen, knowing that you guys will walk into your coffins." He ties the bag together and throws it over his shoulder like a potato sack. "Take this time to rest ok? Drive safely." </p><p>Doyoung then turns around and walks back to his office, his back getting smaller and smaller. </p><p>What exactly happened in that vision that got him to be that scared?</p><p>.</p><p>Donghyuck groans and jumps onto Renjun's bed. "Ugh, I'm not too happy right now" Donghyuck says. Renjun scoffs as he brings out his giant Moomin painting from between his bed and bookshelf. "We all feel like that Hyuck" he replies back. The merman gets up and leans his body against the wall. "It's not fair, we haven't even moved an inch." he protests. Renjun begins plucking the petals off of his paint flowers and into a bowl. "Well to be honest, we all knew that we were going to try to follow that spirit." Donghyuck pouts. "Still.." Pangxie comes out of her tank. She gestures at Renjun to help her to climb up onto the bed to play with Donghyuck. "Hyuck you mind playing with Pangxie?" he asks. The merman lights up a little and beckons for the crab. "I would love to play with her" he smiles. Renjun gets up from the floor and carries the crab onto the bed. "Do you want your shells?" he asks Pangxie. She makes two snaps. That was a yes. Renjun laughs a little and pets her with a finger then goes to grab a few shells from her tank. </p><p>"Oh by the way, Hyuck do you know any places where we can get rare shells?" Renjun asks. "Hmmm, you can try the cove, but you gotta dig them up in order to retrieve them." Renjun hums, grabbing some of Pangxie's favorites. He drops them off carefully onto the bed then goes back to making paint for his piece. </p><p>A knock was heard on Renjun's door. "Come in" he says in a soft voice. Jaemin opens the door with the extra capsules in a bag. "I'm going to drop these off at the hospital, do you guys want anything while I'm out?" he asks. "How about knowledge on what went on in Doyoung hyung's vision?" Donghyuck says. Jaemin doesn't say anything back. "I'm joking, geez" the merman says. Renjun looks at his roommate. That stone cold look on his face was back. He looks back at Renjun. The latter looks like he has questions. "Renjun don't expect me to ask. What ever vision hyung got is his. We have to respect that." Jaemin then bids them a good bye and closes the door.</p><p>"Yeesh, what was that about?" Donghyuck asks. Renjun sighs. "I don't know..Jaemin had THAT look on his face again." Donghyuck raises an eyebrow. "'That look?"' he asks with air quotes. "Yes "that look"' Renjun replies back. He stops smashing the petals then turns his body to Donghyuck. "Rant to me child, I, Professor Lee Donghyuck is here to help you cope with your problems" Renjun chuckles. He pushes his smashed petals to side and gets up. "Make room for me you two." Donghyuck and Pangxie moves over to the end of the bed to allow Renjun to lay his head on the merman's lap. The bed is small, so Renjun's legs ended up hanging off of the headboard. No one really minded though, it's not the biggest problem in the world right now. </p><p>"Tell me sis" Donghyuck says. Renjun laughs then begins to relay his problem. "Whenever something happens, this cold emotionless look comes to Jaemin's face. I hate it cause I can never know what he's thinking about. He had this expression on for the entirety of freshman and sophomore year. It was only in the beginning of second semester when I finally got to know him better, without having to look at that stupid facial expression." </p><p>"Oof" Donghyuck answers. "Oof indeed" Renjun says back. "In what situations does this expression come in? Do you know?" Donghyuck asks, combing through the human's hair. "Not really, but it's usually in events where we either fight or when something really makes him feel down." </p><p>"You think it's because he's tired? He always shuts down whenever he gets exhausted, Jaemin's an introvert you know" Renjun snorts. "Yeah, you think I didn't notice after three years?" Donghyuck lightly slaps him on the forehead. "Well yeah, I'm hoping you're not THAT blind. I'm just saying, those things you just said usually make a person tired. He's probably tired from what happened today too." Renjun hums. It could be a possibility, but it doesn't explain the reason why Jaemin is so hush hush about everything.</p><p>Renjun sighs. "I don't think that could be it." The two boy sit in silence, Pangxie occasionally making sounds when she grabs some shells. </p><p>Donghyuck would go back when Jaemin comes home. The day turns into night, and the two roommates go to bed, without a word to each other. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun was sitting at the dinner table at Donghyuck's and Jeno's dorm. </p><p>He was watching Jeno bobbing up and down in a circle with Geran in his arms. </p><p>The cat was in a fucking diaper. </p><p>"I'm not too sure if you can fix it but if you can it will be a miracle" Donghyuck says, coming out of his room with his laptop. "My viewers were scolding me for not making enough videos so I need to get SOMETHING out." The merman sets the computer onto the table then looks at Jeno. "The fuck are you doing" he asks. "She needs to burp!" Jeno replies. </p><p>"You don't put a diaper on a cat when it needs to burp, nor do you put a diaper on your cat in general." </p><p>"She's my baby!" </p><p>Geran looks at Renjun and Donghyuck and cries for help, pawing at them to get her out. "I'm so sorry, I don't think we can help you" Renjun says.</p><p>"Jeno stop, the poor cat's confused." </p><p>"No! Burp my baby! Burp!!" </p><p>Renjun and Donghyuck stare at Jeno for another 2 seconds before turning their attention to the computer. "Ok, let's see what we can do" Renjun says. He cracks his knuckles ("UGH THE CRINGE" Donghyuck shouts) and opens the laptop. His mouth hangs open when he sees the rainbow glitch on one half of the screen and a binary code on the other half. "What.. What did you do?" he asks. "I don't knowww, just fix it please, my subscribers are going to kill me if I don't post my cover of IU" Donghyuck whines. </p><p>The two focus on fixing the computer,</p><p>while Jeno bounces up and down with a confused cat. </p><p>After 20 minutes of typing on keys, turning on and off the computer, patting the cat's back, and calling IT support, someone pounds on the door. </p><p>"It's open" Donghyuck yells. On cue, the door bursts open revealing a wild Chenle and a wild Jisung. "W E  S E N T  M A R K  B A C K  T O  C A N A D A" Chenle yells. Donghyuck and Renjun turn to the leprechaun standing in the doorway like a crab. "WHAT??" Donghyuck shouts back. At that moment Mark walks into the room with a little plate in his hands. Chenle looks at him then suddenly starts to sing the Canadian national anthem. </p><p>"O H  C A N A DAAAAA" </p><p>"CHENLE NO!!" </p><p>" O H ~~~~ C A N A D A~~" </p><p>"I TOLD YOU, YOU DON'T GET TO SING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM!!" Mark yells. "What are you eating?" Jeno asks. The vampire turns to the younger and looks at the cat. "Why is your cat in a diaper?" he asks back. "She's going to burp soon" Mark makes an O with his mouth and goes back to eating his poutine, as if any of that made any sense. "Wait did you actually go to Canada?" Donghyuck asks, looking at the plate in Mark's hands. "Yeah, I wanted poutine." </p><p>"But we have poutine here" </p><p>"It's not the same here~~" </p><p>"How did you go though?" Jeno questions, patting the cat's back repeatedly (she's given up on trying to get out at this point). Chenle scuddles up to Jeno and stares at him in the eye. "W E  T H R E W  H I M  I N  T H E  H O L E." </p><p>You see, it's been two days since Doyoung had prohibited them from going spirit hunting, so they're kind of going insane now. </p><p>Jisung sneezes. He sneezed so hard, that an ice spike shot out of his nose. He stares at the spike on the ground with wide eyes and a concerned heart. "Ok, ew that is disgusting, I'm going to go steal our neighbor's plant" Donghyuck announces. He walks past Mark and his poutine and out the open door to go steal a plant from the people next to his dorm room. At this time, Jaemin comes walking into the dorm room. He stops at the door way after he sees Jeno holding his cat in a diaper, Chenle scwadling around him like how Pangxie does when she gets territorial of her sea shells, Mark eating poutine with a Canada shirt on, Jisung staring at a snotsicle on the ground, and Renjun banging his head on the table. </p><p>Fun </p><p>Chenle stops scoodllooding and stares at the vampire in the doorway. "I T ' S  J A Y M U N  H Y O ON G" Jaemin stares at the younger then looks at Jisung. "Go throw that away" he says calmly when he sees the snotsicle. Jisung doesn't move though and continues to look at the ice in fear. "It's ok, just pick it up and throw it away in the dumpster outside." </p><p>The cat finally burps. "Oh! She burped! Time to clean her now" As Jeno takes Geran to his room, the cat looks at Jaemin with a look of helplessness and agony. "Why was she in a diaper?" Jaemin asks no one in particular. Mark shrugs and walks to the couch to sit down and to finish his snack. </p><p>"Oh my god, just pick it up and go" Jaemin tells Jisung. He pushes Jisung closer the spike then forces him to pick it up. "Good, now dispose of it outside at the dumpster." </p><p>"HYUCK'S COMPUTER'S ON CRACK." </p><p>"All of you are on crack Renjun, it's ok Jisung it's ok just go outside it's not hard" Finally, Jaemin pushes Jisung out of the dorm room and into the hallway. After he sends the fae off, he catches Donghyuck dragging a small potted plant on the floor. The merman stops and stares back at his friend. "Yo" he greets. </p><p>At this moment, the door of Donghyuck's neighbor's dorm opens. A slender girl comes out of the dorm and points at the merman. "Hey! That's my plant!" the girl says. Donghyuck freezes and looks at the girl. "Give it!" Another girl comes out of the dorm. "What are you doing unni?" she asks the other. "This person stole my plant! Shoo! Shoo!" The girl waves Donghyuck away from the plant. He gets up and scurries away to his dorm apartment. "Yeji! I found our plant! Yuna go feed the fish will ya?" the girl says as she picks up the plant and walks inside. The other girl watches her friend go in then looks at Jaemin and smiles. She waves at him then goes back inside the dorm. When she closed the door, Jaemin then uses the chance to smack Donghyuck in the head. "Ow! What do you want from me?" </p><p>"Why would you steal a plant?" </p><p>"I wanted a plant!" </p><p>"You have a plant in your room!!" </p><p>"HYUCK YOUR COMPUTER SMOKES WEED" </p><p>"Y E E E E E E E E E E" </p><p>Jaemin yells "OK BITCHES, IT'S TIME TO GO SHOPPING" then walks straight out the room. </p><p>"LET'S GO" </p><p>.</p><p>By Jaemin's request (read: demand), the group piles into Jeno's car and drives to the mall (with Chenle occasionally screaming " H E E E E E E E E E E"). </p><p>"Why do you need a hat?" Renjun asks, watching Jaemin try on a bunch of hats. The hats weren't normal, they were big, floppy sunhats with feathers and sticks sticking out of them. "I want to buy one for the right occasion. You know, the ones that come unexpectedly." </p><p>"What occasion would you possibly need a Mardi Gras hat for"</p><p>Jaemin turns around with a purple sunhat with a zebra print buckle around it. "The next time you guys go mentally insane. I don't like being left out you know." Renjun and Jisung share a glance. "Hyung, I don't think that's a good idea" Jisung says. While watching Jaemin look through more hats, Chenle comes up to the trio, groaning and complaining that he's tired. "Well you're the one who kept shouting HEE in the car" Renjun scolds. "It wasn't HEE it was H E E E E E E E E E E." He tugs on Jisung's sleeve. "Let's go to the pet shop, maybe seeing the animals will make me feel less dead inside." </p><p>"Ok" Jisung replies. They both walk out of the store and head towards to the pet shop. "Guys!! They hang their socks on hangers!" Donghyuck says. Renjun and Jaemin turn to a surprising image of a pair of socks, one hanging off of one end of a hanger for pants. "They have a whole rack of these! Can we get a pair hyung??" Mark gives Donghyuck an ok sign with his fingers without turning to look at him. He and Jeno were looking at a large section of shoelaces on a shelf ("What even is this store"). </p><p>Renjun shakes his head as he watches Donghyuck skip joyfully to the rack of socks on a hanger, claiming he's going to get couple pairs for him and Mark (Mark had tried to protest, but fell for Donghyuck's puppy eyes). "How's this hat?" Jaemin asks. The human turns and is stunned by the large light blue top hat with a fake bird's nest (with a fake bird with her fake egg babies) sitting on top. "That makes you look like the Mad Hatter." Jaemin smiles and gives a thumbs up. "I'll take it!" he says and walks to the cashier with the hat on. His roommate smiles a little, watching him walk to the cashier person who gets taken back by the fact that a actual customer wants to purchase this specific hat. </p><p>The human looks around the store. Maybe there's something for him as well. He's about to go search for something when a ball of orange light flies pasts the window of the store. </p><p>Renjun freezes. "No way.." he thinks. Slowly, he turns around. Nothing but only the lights of the other buildings were seen from the window. Renjun let's go of a breath he was holding then goes back to look for something. </p><p>But then the ball of light storms pasts the building again. </p><p>This time, Jeno and Mark notices it. They look at each other then at Renjun. The latter bites his lip worryingly and looks out of the window. He doesn't see anything strange, just a few people walking on the street. "I think we're just going crazy" he tells them. </p><p>At this time, Jaemin comes walking back, holding a large shopping bag with his hat inside. "What are you looking at?" he asks Renjun. The ball of light flies pasts them again, except it stops and flies backwards. It looks at the boys through the window. The bracelet on Renjun's bracelet starts to glow again. He freezes, eyes glued on the ball of flame. </p><p>It flies away to another direction. </p><p>"Jen!" Jaemin shouts. Like he was waiting for the call, Jeno starts sprinting out of the store, Mark not that far behind him. "Hold these will ya?" Donghyuck says, handing Jaemin his own shopping bag before running off with the others. "Let's go find Jisung and Chenle" Jaemin says. Renjun doesn't say anything and only nods. He was busy catching his breath and wasn't really paying attention to what Jaemin was saying. The wolf grabs Renjun's hand and rubs it with his thumb. "Renjun? You ok?" he asks in a softer tone. Renjun snaps out of his trance and looks at Jaemin. "Yeah.. I'm good.." </p><p>"Let's find Jisung and Chenle. The others are already going after it." Renjun nods again. They thank the employee at the cashier and run off to find Jisung and Chenle.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I say, the last part of this chapter will be one of the best things I ever wrote. </p><p>Mainly because I just like the idea of Jeno burping his cat, and Chenle squatting down while also screaming like a demon child.</p><p>Thanks for reading! </p><p>(Also, y'all wanna take a guess on who the flower shopkeeper is? 0.0)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0029"><h2>29. 15. The Fire Spirit That Likes Shopping</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A fire spirit wanted to go shopping, then got Renjun and Jaemin in a relationship threatening argument.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello! </p><p>Welcome back you fine person! I hope you guys enjoy this one! It's going to be a lot to take in, so I suggest getting comfortable! As always thank you for reading this fic, and enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Renjun watches Jaemin walk back and forth, one hand resting on his hip and a phone up to his ear in the other. "Why isn't he answering??" he yells in agony. The vampire sighs and hangs up the phone. "Hyung, why don't we just grab it while you and Renjun ge can stay watch?" Chenle suggests. "We don't have the capsules Le" Jisung says, turning away from the window. Chenle asks, "then why did the other hyungs go to catch it?" </p><p>"They didn't go to catch it, they went to make sure the buildings won't catch on fire" Jaemin replies. Rejun furrows his eyes brows and looks out the window. They should be doing more then just standing there and wait for the others. "Let's call 119 and alert the mall staff" Renjun says. He's about to take out his phone when his bracelet starts to glow again, this time the light being a much more stronger color. </p><p>Jaemin's eyes widen at the beads on the bracelet, as if he's panicking. He clears his throat then tells his friends in a high pitched tone; "Ok children! We're going to go this way now! If you misbehave, Mr. Na will have to call your parents ok?" Renjun, Chenle, and Jisung stand there and stare at Jaemin with concern and bewilderment. "Since when were we 4 year old kids?" Jisung asks in a snarky tone ("Watch your mouth Park"). Renjun's bracelet glows brighter in a darker purple. "Forget it, let's just get out of the area" Jaemin says. "But what about 119?? What about the others?" Renjun says. Jaemin grabs Renjun's hand and beckons Jisung and Chenle to come follow them. "We can tell security to call them, and we'll look for the others. For now, let's just leave the building." </p><p>Whatever Jaemin intended to run away from, it came into the mall like a asteroid. A orange ball of light flew around the shopping area like a shooting star, scaring each customer and employee. Jisung and Chenle run off away from their hyungs to go after it, to make sure it doesn't set anything on fire. Renjun spots his other friends come into the building with firemen. "Renjun!" The latter turns and dashes towards Jaemin. His bracelet turns black when he senses a presence coming closer to him. </p><p>"RENJUN WATCH OUT!!" </p><p>Renjun turns behind him and falls. His heart quickens when the fire spirit speeds closer to him. </p><p>"I.. Can't.. Move.." </p><p>All sounds disappear from him. The only thing he can hear is the thumping of his heart. Sweat rolls down his forehead, his body starts to shake, his breathing goes out of control. </p><p>"RENJUN!!" </p><p>The fire spirit slows down as it gets closer to the human. It stops right in front of him and stares right into his eyes. Renjun stares at the ball right back, seeing all of the red, orange, and yellow swirls mixing around in its form.</p><p>For some reason it was so... calming. </p><p>The colors didn't make Renjun feel too relaxed though. He sat there staring at this blob of colors with fear in his eyes and blood running cold in his veins. </p><p>He snaps out of his trance when a wolf jumps in between him and the spirit. He growled at the spirit to get away from the human, the spirit not one bit intimidated. "There it is!" The three turn their attention towards the rest of the group coming towards them. The spirit gives one last look at Renjun and the wolf before bursting through the glass roof and back to wherever it went last time. </p><p>"Huang!" Renjun gives out a grunt when Donghyuck runs up and hugs him. "Are you ok? Did you get hurt??" Renjun shakes his head, not yet able to reply. Jeno looks at the wolf sitting in front of Renjun. It was looking at Renjun's face, checking for any scratches or injuries. "Excuse me" The wolf freezes. Jeno crouches down to the floor, keeping his eyes on the wolf's back. "May I ask who you are?" Renjun's eyes dart back and forth between Jeno and Jaemin. He gulps nervously. "Excuse me? Do you hear me?" The wolf doesn't answer him and gets up. It trots away from the group, not looking back. </p><p>"Who was that?" Donghyuck asks Jeno. "I don't know, but it doesn't look like he's from Neo City." Chenle turns to his hyung. "What do you mean by that?" he asks. "The wolf's fur color is a bit lighter then most of the wolves here, and it's size is much smaller then average. Either that wolf's from Seoul or it's a hybrid of some sort." </p><p>"Most likely both" Renjun thinks. Jeno looks down at Renjun and gives a hand. The human accepts it and gets up from the ground. "Are you ok Renjun?" Jeno asks, the suspecting expression disappearing away from his face. "Yes, I'm fine" Renjun says in a weak tone. "Sungie make a cup" Chenle says. Jisung creates a ice cup from his powers and hands it to Donghyuck to pour water into it. "Drink this Renjun" the merman says softly. Renjun takes the cup and downs the water, satisfying his parched throat. "Guys!" The group turns. Jaemin was running towards them. "Where were you?" Mark asks him. "Yeah, why did you leave Renjun alone like that??" Donghyuck angrily demands after.</p><p>"I lost Renjun when we were running away" Jaemin says. He turns to Renjun and takes his hand. "I'm really sorry Renjun for leaving you. Are you ok? Did you get hurt?" </p><p>"I'm fine thanks to-" Renjun stops in the middle of his sentence. "Thanks to a particular wolf." Jaemin smiles a bit. He squeezes Renjun's hand lightly and rubs it with his thumb. "I'm really sorry, I promise to look after you whenever you need me to." Renjun smiles a bit and nods. </p><p>For some reason, what Jaemin said feels like a reference to something else.</p><p>.</p><p>The Moomin on Renjun's painting stares at him in the in eyes. "You good?" it says to him. The painter sighs and dumps his brush into a cup of a water. "There's something wrong with this, but I don't know what it is!" he groans to himself. Pangxie scurries over to where Renjun is sitting and looks at the gigantic canvas of greens, reds, and a gigantic white blob in the middle. "What do you think Pangxie, what's missing??" The crab doesn't answer and only stares at the canvas with large (well as large as they can go) eyes. </p><p>Someone knocks on the door. "Come in" Renjun calls out. Jaemin opens the door and pokes his head into the room. "Are you ok? I heard you screaming in agony" he deadpans. Renjun rolls his eyes and beckons the wolf to come in. "Help me spot what's wrong with this painting." Jaemin walks into the room, closing the door behind him, and sits next to his roommate. "I don't see a problem with it. It's a Moomin." </p><p>"It's missing something!" </p><p>"It's not missing anything." </p><p>Renjun squishes Jaemin's cheeks with one hand and turns his head towards the painting. "LOOOK, there must be something wrong!!" Jaemin takes his hand off Renjun's hand off of his cheeks and messages his jaw. "Ow, you didn't have to grab me that hard you know." Renjun apologizes. They stare at the painting for a while (Pangxie got bored and went back to playing with a new shell she received from Donghyuck yesterday). Jaemin suddenly turns into his shiba form and looks up at Renjun with stars in his eyes. </p><p>"They're in the fridge" Renjun says, referring to the fresh new batch of dog biscuits he baked out of stress last night after they came back home from the fire spirit incident. He made too many and ended up giving one third to Jeno, put the other part in a postage box to mail to Jilin for his own dog, and the last part for Jaemin to enjoy. The dog nudges Renjun's arm to go with him. "Can't you get it yourself" Renjun whines, narrowing his eyes at the painting. Jaemin gives a short growl. It's not as aggressive as the ones he gives as a wolf, but it still works. The human sighs and gets up from the ground. "Alright you big baby, let's get those cookies" he says. </p><p>They walk out of Renjun's room to the kitchen. Renjun opens the fridge, and grabs a Ziploc bag filled with brown biscuits. He looks down at the shiba on the ground and giggles. Jaemin had stars in his large black eyes. Renjun opens the bag and feeds a piece to the dog. "Here you go pup" he laughs. Jaemin gladly takes it and starts chewing on his piece. In the meantime, Renjun closes the bag and puts it back into the fridge. </p><p>At this time, someone knocks on their door. Renjun and Jaemin share a look of panic. "Go eat it in your room!" Renjun whispers. Jaemin runs off, still in his dog form with the cookie in his mouth, into his room. "Coming!" Renjun calls out. Right as he opens the door, Donghyuck, Jisung, and Mark all come in and take off their shoes. "Yo" Donghyuck greets. "What's up?" Renjun tries to say calmly. His eyes dart back and forth between Jaemin's room and his friends.</p><p>"Where's Jaemin?" Mark asks. Renjun turns his head from Jaemin's room to Mark. "Huh? Oh he's..Sleeping... Yeah.. That's normal.." Mark and Donghyuck look at each other then at Renjun. Jisung sits on the couch and looks up at Renjun. "Donghyuck hyung got hungry so we're forced to go eat with him." Donghyuck makes a sound of offense and sits down on the couch with the younger. "Look, when a person wants to eat, they gotta eat." </p><p>"Can we eat sushi?" </p><p>"*GASP* PARK JISUNG!!" </p><p>"It's been 4 years since I ate a plate of sushi! FOUR!!" </p><p>Renjun chuckles nervously. He slowly starts to walk back towards Jaemin's room, keeping his eyes on his friends arguing on murdering and eating Donghyuck's fish friends. Once he knows it's safe, Renjun peeks into Jaemin's room to see if he's ok. "Jaem" he whispers. "You okay?" Jaemin finishes the last of his cookie and changes back into his human form. "That's was a nice cookie, thank you Renjun" he whispers back.</p><p>"HEY IS JAEMIN AWAKE, I'M GETTING MORE HUNGRY." </p><p>Renjun steps aside for Jaemin to put his head out of his room. "Yes, and stop yelling you're too loud" he says, narrowing his eyes at the merman. Donghyuck narrows his eyes back as the vampire goes back into the room to change. Renjun closes the door and walks to the couch to join his friends. "Can we go to the street market at District U? I always wanted to go, but haven't." Donghyuck, Mark, and Jisung turn their heads at Renjun and stare at him as if he just mutated in front of him. "Then it's decided! We shall feast on ddeokbookki!!!" Donghyuck shouts. </p><p>"Hyuck! I said quiet down!!" </p><p>"JUST CHANGE!!" </p><p>.</p><p>Ah yes, Korean street markets, the land of the inexpensive street food. </p><p>Renjun's mouth is basically watering as he looks at the carts of food. Vendors creating small, but plentiful batches of rice cakes, soondae, fish cake, and noodles. "Let's split up and meet at that tree over there" Mark says, pointing to a tree in the middle of the sidewalk. It has a bench circling around the bark, perfect for a place to sit down and eat under the shade. </p><p>Mark and Donghyuck go together to one cart, while Renjun, Jaemin, and Jisung go to another. The human looks at the different carts in awe of the varieties of food offered to customers. "I want to get some dalgona!!" Jaemin announces. "Let's eat food first hyung, I want to get some gimbap" Jisung replies. Renjun spots a kalguksu stand. He watches the lady making the noodles, and decides to buy a bowl from her. "Kalguksu!" Renjun calls out and beckons the others to follow him. </p><p>"Hello young man" the lady greets. "Would you like a bowl today?" Renjun nods his head excitedly. "Yes please!" The lady laughs at his enthusiasm and washes her hands. "I would normally sell these bowls for 5 bucks, but I'll lower the price to 3 because of your cheerfulness" Renjun's eyes widen. He gives the lady a bow. "Thank you! I'll make sure to eat it well!" The lady laughs again. Renjun digs out some 1,000 won bills and gives him to her. "Eh? I said you can have a bowl for 3,000 won! Are you sure you want to give me four?" </p><p>"The extra won is a tip" Renjun explains. The lady shakes her head and gives Renjun back his extra won. "You eating my food is already a tip. I will only take the 3,000 won." Renjun thanks the lady again and watches her work on his bowl. She starts creating the broth, and chopping the vegetables. When she starts boiling the noodles, Jaemin and Jisung come back to the booth with a plate of gimbap and two soddeok sticks. "That's all you're getting?" Renjun asks. "Mark hyung said he's getting us some ddeokbokki so we just got the sides to share." </p><p>"Here's your bowl!" The boys turn to the counter. Their mouth's hang open and their eyes widen at the large bowl of noodles sitting in front of them. "Woah" Jaemin says. "Ahjuma, you're the best!!" he says with a thumbs up. The lady laughs and sprinkles some seaweed bits on the soup and reaches down for her magic toppings. "Say sweetie, are you a vampire? I can get you some blood sauce for your soup." </p><p>"Ah no, I'm a human" Renjun says. The lady turns around with big eyes and makes an O with her mouth. "No wonder I sensed something from you. Well then, you must take these herbs to give you strength! Those spirits are hard to contain you know!" Renjun shares a glances with Jaemin. "Y-you know I chase spirits?" The lady turns around with some herbs in little containers with an expression telling him "obviously." "Of course! I speak to these spirits all of the time, and they all know who you boys are." She points to Jisung. "I know for sure you are an ice fae. The ice spirits like to watch you time to time when you visit District U." The area around Jisung's feet starts to slowly turn into ice from panic. Renjun and Jaemin hold his hand to comfort him. "They know you the most because you've been doing this since.. let's see what did they say.. you were in high school I believe?" she says to Jaemin. The lady turns to Renjun. "You are also one of the newer ones I believe, but you give off a energy that's familiar to them. That's how they know you are a human." She gives the bowl to Renjun and looks down at his bracelet. "Mm, I see you visited Mr. Kim yes? He and I used to work together on some herbal medicines in Ulsan with a friend of ours. I wonder how she is doing." The woman stops her ponder and smiles at the boys. "Well, enjoy your noodles!" </p><p>"Thank you ma'am!" </p><p>.</p><p>The buildings were large, larger then Renjun had expected them to be. </p><p>They were abandoned apartments and parking lots, and it shows. </p><p>The roads were narrow and empty. You can basically see the dust covering the streets thanks to the shining sun. </p><p> </p><p>Renjun had chased the fire spirit to the entrance of the old buildings in District U. </p><p>He was eating his food with his friends when his bracelet starts to glow. He doesn't think much of it. He knows that something is around them and that if he can just ignore it and move on, he'll be fine. </p><p>But he was curious, oh so curious. </p><p>He slurps a noodle into his mouth and looks at a building. There, is when Renjun spots it, the fire spirit. It wasn't creating havoc like how its kind usually would do. It was just hanging around, looking through the windows of the building. Kind of like if it was looking into the stores to buy something. </p><p>Like, window shopping. </p><p>Renjun watches it look through each window of the store. If it doesn't see something it's looking for, it goes to the next store. When the employees notice it hovering near the window, it flies up into the sky and waits for the worker to go back to what they were doing. </p><p>The fire spirit finally spots something, but forgets it doesn't have hands. Renjun laughs a little when the fire spirit panics after accidentally catching a door knob on fire. Thankfully the wind put it out, so the spirit stops freaking out. The human then goes back to his bowl of noodles, but senses something looking at him. He looks up. The spirit was looking at him. </p><p>For some reason, Renjun isn't shaking like he did back at the mall. It's the spirit from last time, he can tell thanks to Jaemin having taught him how to tell which spirit is which. This spirit is less jagged then most fire spirits and has a brighter color. It's smaller, and holds less aggressive energy then its brethren. </p><p>It's the same spirit, yet Renjun feels relaxed. </p><p>They hold the stare for a while before the spirit takes off. Out of reflex, Renjun wordlessly puts down his bowl and runs after it, ignoring his friend's call and the stronger glow of the beads on his bracelet. </p><p>"What did it want to buy?" he wonders. "What did it want to buy for?" </p><p>"RENJUN!!" </p><p>He kept running. </p><p>"RENJUN STOP!!" </p><p>He couldn't hear his name. </p><p>"RENJUN STOP RUNNING!!" </p><p>His eyes were glued on the spirit in front of him. </p><p>"HYUNG STOP!! PLEASE!!" </p><p>He runs all the way to the back of District U, to the white buildings. Determined, the want for his questions to be answered clouding his mind. </p><p>The spirit flies into the area safely. Renjun on the other hand is grabbed before he could cross over the boundary line. </p><p>He is pulled onto the ground and into a hug. "Renjun! The fuck were you doing???" Donghyuck scolds. "Do you know how dangerous that was?? Aren't you terrified of fire??" He couldn't hear a thing, eyes still staring at the empty, chalky streets. </p><p>"Renjun" a weak voice calls out. </p><p>The human snaps out his trance. He looks down at the arms hugging him and turns around. Jaemin was hanging his head, and was panting from the running. "Please..Never do that again.." he says quietly. Renjun's eyes grow wide. He hugs Jaemin and let's the wolf bury his head in the crook of his neck. "I-I'm really sorry, I don't know what came over me" he whispers. Renjun looks up at his friends, all of them were staring at him, worry present in their eyes. "I'm really sorry guys, I really am. I ruined our hang out." His friends don't say anything and only share concerned glances. Mark looks at Renjun. "Let's go over to Mr. Kim."</p><p>.</p><p>"Head over to the flower shop boys, I've got nothing to say" is what the group hears when they visit Mr. Kim. Not allowing them to say a word, the old man ushers them out of the shop and restaurant and on their way to the flower shop. "You can find your answers there." </p><p>"Why the flower shop?" Jisung questions out loud. "Will the shop owner help us?" Donghyuck shrugs. "I dunno, if a shaman says we need to go, then we gotta go." </p><p>Renjun walks slowly behind the group, looking at the ground. He brings his head up, his eyes viewing the back of his friends. He sighs. "What have I done? I ruined everything." Renjun looks at Jaemin. "Is he mad? Is he sad? He's not happy that's for sure..." The human bites his lips "I should talk to him..." he thinks. Quietly, Renjun walks up to Jaemin's side. They don't say anything for a few seconds and walk quietly. Finally after a moment of silence, Renjun turns to open his mouth but is cut off by Jaemin. "It's ok Renjun" he says quietly. Renjun gently takes the hand of the wolf into his own and squeezes it. "I'm really sorry.." Jaemin turns to Renjun and gives him a small smile. "Thank you.. and really it's ok.." </p><p>"Yeah don't sweat it Huang! No one got hurt!" Donghyuck says, turning around to face the couple. He's walking backwards with his hands in his pockets with a big smile on his face. "But.. I made you guys worried.." Renjun says. "You always make us worry Renjun" Mark laughs. Donghyuck hits Mark on his shoulder. "Ow! What you do that for??" he exclaims. Jisung slows his pace and ends up next to Renjun and Jaemin. "I'm walking with you guys it's much more peaceful" he says. His hyungs smile a bit. The calm atmosphere slowly gets back to normal when they arrived at the flower shop. </p><p>But it won't be like that for long.</p><p>.</p><p>The bell rings as Mark opens the door to the flower shop. "Hyung? What are you doing here?" he asks. Doyoung leans on the counter of the shop and tilts his head. "Why? Can't I visit my friends?" he asks. The boys share troubling glances with each other. "Ok geez, by the looks on your faces I guess not." The flower shop owner chuckles and goes into the back of the store. "Renjun and Jaemin come with me, the rest of you stay out here" Doyoung says, then goes to follow the flower shop owner to the back. </p><p>Donghyuck groans and looks at Renjun. "Tell me the deets boy" he says. Renjun laughs a little and nods. "Ok, I will" he answers, though he already knows the merman will try to eavesdrop on their conversation. </p><p>Hands still together, Renjun and Jaemin walk to the counter then into the back room. They gasp in wonder as the area they walked into was not a back room, but a whole garden with flowers and plants scattered around the field. There was a patio area with a small table with a umbrella protecting the chairs and the people sitting in them from the sun. </p><p>"Go ahead and sit down boys" the flower shop owner says, bringing a tray of drinks and snacks. The boys comply. "This is beautiful" Renjun comments. "Why thank you, it took a very long time to make it the way it is now" the shop owner says, pride gleaming from his face. "How long did it take?" Renjun asks. "Oh, about 300 hundred years, I can't really remember haha" the flower shop owner laughs. "I'm sure you guys didn't catch his name the last time you visited the shop. This is Moon Taeil, he's a dragon who's looking over the river here in District U" Doyoung introduces. </p><p>"Wow, that's fascinating!" Renjun exclaims. Taeil chuckles and shrugs. "Not really, it's just my job" he says. "We can chat more about that later, what we need to talk about is what happened today." Renjun drops his smile and gulps. He should've known that Doyoung knew about the fire spirit incident, the Doctor's a ghost. "Look, I'm not mad, but I just want you to be careful. If it wasn't for your friends, you could've crossed into a dangerous part of the district. There's a reason it's blocked off, and there's a reason why I never sent you guys there to get a spirit. It's too dangerous." Renjun let's go of Jaemin's hand. "I know.. and I apologize for that. I'll try not to do that again." </p><p>"Good" Doyoung sighs. "You know of Pandora's Box correct?" Renjun nods his head. "Well, that story can become reality here in Neo City. I know that your curiosity can lead you to many wonderful things, but it could also lead to disasters and troubles. Just make sure when you get an urge to just run off to chase a spirit or see something strange, don't just go to it. Get someone to come with you, you understand?" Renjun nods once more. "I understand." </p><p>"I don't." Renjun looks at Taeil. The dragon takes a sip of his tea then puts the cup down. "That's the spirit that's been running around the city right? Why, isn't it a good thing that he chased after it?" he asks. Doyoung closes his eyes and gives a passive aggressive sigh. "Hyung, I already told you, it's dangerous." </p><p>"You know, that at some point, they're gonna have to go in there, so why stop them now?" Taeil asks. Doyoung opens his eyes and crosses his arms. "Because I want them to avoid that part of the city as long as they can. Who knows what goes on in there! There are many dangerous beings there that could possible kill them, and I don't want that to happen." Renjun takes a cookie silently and starts munching on it. He's sure that he and Jaemin have been called in to assess the little incident that had occurred earlier, but it feels like they're here for a different reason. </p><p>"I won't fight you on this, but I'm just saying that you have to let it happen at some point" Taeil says to Doyoung. The younger only sighs and leans back against his chair. He can feel the headache coming. </p><p>Taeil on the other hand, turns towards Renjun and Jaemin. He looks at Jaemin and asks him a question. "Has time come yet?" </p><p>Jaemin raises an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" he asks. </p><p>"You know, did you tell him what had happened in the past?" Taeil asks. Jaemin furrows his eyebrows for a while before realizing what Taeil was talking about. "No, not yet" he says. Renjun finishes his cookie and takes a sip of water. Taeil makes a confused hum and turns towards Doyoung. "How long has it been?" he asks. The doctor answers with "17 years" without straightening himself up. The dragon nods and looks back at Jaemin. "It must be hard to keep it a secret for this long right? Oh well, I guess not since you haven't seen him for the majority of your life." </p><p>Does Taeil know that Renjun is still here? It feels strange to be sitting here quietly while listening on to a conversion that he does not know the subject of. </p><p>"Should we just tell him?" Taeil asks in a low tone. Renjun takes his attention off of the cookie and at the dragon. Seriously, what in the ever loving Moomin Mama are they talking about? </p><p>Taeil's question seemed to make Jaemin panic as the other shakes his head violently. "No, I have to wait longer" he replies. "But how much longer?" Taeil asks, resting his head on his hand. "Aren't you frustrated that you can't tell him of what happened that day? Aren't you tired of waiting for the right moment to come?" </p><p>"Renjun, let's go" Jaemin announces so suddenly. The wolf gets up and walks over the sliding door without waiting for Renjun. The human on the other hand, slowly rises up from his chair, a bit confused, and looks at Doyoung for some answers. The ghost, already straightened himself back up, doesn't say anything and avoids eye contact. "Renjun you must be curious as to what we were talking about yes?" Taeil asks, loud enough for Jaemin to hear. Renjun stops mid rise and looks at the dragon. He had some sort of mischievous expression on his face, but his eyes held a feeling of hesitation, and doubt. Renjun sits back down and nods. "Well yes actually, I was kinda wondering while you guys were talking" he says. </p><p>"Renjun I wanna go home" Jaemin says</p><p>"Renjun you're involved with this" Taeil says at the same time. </p><p>Jaemin widens his eyes, then walks over to the table and grabs Renjun's wrist. "Come. On. Let's. Go" he says with his teeth clenched. Renjun spurts out a what before getting dragged by the wolf from the table. "Woah, wait, hold your horses!" Renjun exclaims. He takes his wrist out of Jaemin's hand, making the taller turn around. Renjun gets startled by the angry expression on Jaemin's face. "Why are you mad? If I'm involved, shouldn't I get the right to know?" he asks. Jaemin sighs. "Yes, but it's much more complicated then that."</p><p>"How much more complicated?" </p><p>"Very" </p><p>"Ok, then how about we start slowly, and talk little by little?" Renjun asks. Jaemin shakes his head. The human presses his lips together and sighs. "Ok, but can I ask why it's so complicated?" </p><p>"No"</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"Cause I can't" </p><p>Ok, this is getting out of hand. </p><p>"Renjun, please just understand that I cannot tell you anything. You said you would" Jaemin says. "Well yes, but I also said that I will WAIT for you tell me the truth, not just leave it in the dust." Renjun replies. </p><p>"You never said that." </p><p>"Yes I did" </p><p>"No you didn't" </p><p>"Look this isn't going anywhere, so I'm just going to be more straightforward. Jaemin, I know we all have our secrets but we are bound to find out anyway! Please just tell me what's happening! Why did you get upset, why are you hiding the fact that you are a werewolf from our friends, why did you hide the fact that you did spirit hunting?" </p><p>"Because it's not safe." </p><p>"But, why is it not safe!?"</p><p>"I can't tell you that!" </p><p>"Why!?" </p><p>"BECAUSE I CAN'T!"</p><p>Renjun screams in frustration. He can feel the imprints in the palms of his hands from pushing his fingernails into them. He looks back at the two men sitting at the table for help, but they only stare at him. He can't read their facial expressions so he just goes back to Jaemin. "Jaem, I, and I'm sure the others, appreciate your efforts in keeping us safe, but we are not your children. We are not kids. We don't need to be protected by you! I don't need to be protected by you!" </p><p>"You will get hurt if I tell you so just drop it" Jaemin snaps. "Jaemin this isn't Twilight, I don't understand why you are saying that. I'll understand better if you would just tell me." </p><p>"Renjun, I'm sorry I can't." </p><p>"Yes, you can."</p><p>"No, I can't." </p><p> "Tell me" Renjun says in a grim tone. Doyoung widens his eyes. He never heard this tone of malice coming out from Renjun before. "Tell me why you're acting so distant from us. From me! I know we only knew each other for three years, but I know our relationship is more then just being roommates for three years. Tell me! I deserve to know, I'm involved!" </p><p>"I CAN'T TELL YOU, AND I WON'T TELL YOU SO JUST STOP IT!" </p><p>"WELL I CAN'T STOP WHEN I AM INVOLVED!!" </p><p>"THAT'S THE REASON! YOU'RE INVOLVED, THAT COULD PUT YOU INTO MORE HARM. WHY DO YOU THINK MR. KIM GOT YOU THE FUCKING BRACELET!?" </p><p>"I DON'T KNOW, SOMETHING ABOUT SPIRITS!? I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF WHEN I CAN, SO JUST TRUST ME!!" </p><p>"Ok, I think this is enough" Doyoung says, getting up from his chair. He ignore's Taeil's glance and walks over to the two boys. </p><p>"THEN YOU TELL ME HYUNG!!" Renjun shouts. Doyoung jumps back from the sudden yelling. "TELL ME, JUST SOMEONE FUCKING TELL ME!!" </p><p>"Let's go home" </p><p>"NO I AM NOT GOING HOME" </p><p>Jaemin grabs Renjun's wrist and tries to drag him out of the garden. "Let's. Go." he says in his sternest tone. Renjun tries to wiggle his wrist out of Jaemin's hand, but is not able to because of the other's strong grip. He looks back at the garden and manipulates a vine to grab his hand and pull him away from Jaemin. It works and Renjun is back in his original spot thanks to the vine. "I. Am. Not. Leaving." he says. "Why the fuck are you being so stubborn?" Jaemin shouts. "Because I am apparently involved in a situation that I didn't know existed! I deserve to know what I am a part of and I deserve to know what my ROOMMATE of THREE YEARS is thinking! Tell me! Why am I weak?? WHY AM I DEFENSELESS??" </p><p>"BECAUSE YOU ARE GOING TO BE KILLED, AND I DON'T WANT TO SEE THAT AGAIN!!" </p><p>Jaemin widens his eyes. Doyoung gasps and Taeil shakes his head. "Why did Mr. Kim ask me to initiate this?" he thinks to himself. Renjun on the other hand, only stands there, shocked. "What?" he asks. The wolf doesn't answer and just leaves the store, ignoring his friends sitting in front of the door, and leaves Renjun, who is confused, and hurt by the argument he just had. </p><p>Doyoung gets up and puts a hand on Renjun's shoulder. "Let's take you home Renjun." </p><p>.</p><p>Jaemin didn't come back to the dorm for the rest of the week. Renjun didn't mind, he didn't want to see the other anyway. </p><p>It's been two days since he fought with the wolf. All Renjun has been doing was laying in his bed. His friends were worried about him and Jaemin. Pangxie would occasionally scuddle up to Renjun to give him a shell of encouragement. This time it was her favorite purple shell. Renjun smiles and accepts the shell. "Thank you Pangxie" he weakly says in Chinese. He looks at her tank and notices her food bowl was getting empty. Slowly Renjun gets up from his pile of blankets and groans from the light headiness from laying down for so long. "Let's fill your food bowl" he smiles and picks up Pangxie and her shell. He drops her off in her tank and goes to get her food. Once he refills the bowl, Renjun gets up again and stretches. "You're running out of food Pangxie, I should go to the pet shop and get you some more." Pangxie clanks her claws excitedly. Not only is she getting more food, but her owner is getting sunlight after sulking in his dark room for 48 hours. Renjun chuckles softly and pets Pangxie with his finger. "I'll be back ok? Make sure to dial Robert or Geran if you're bored." The boys had set up a system (well mostly Mark and Jeno) where their pets can communicate with each other. It's a little wonky, but it still worked. Renjun grabs a pair of pants and a shirt with some socks for today and goes to take a shower. </p><p>After he takes a shower, he gets dressed and brushes his teeth. When he gets out of the bathroom, he shivers. "It's..cold" Renjun mutters to himself. He goes back into his room and looks for a hoodie to wear. His eyes zeroes on a certain white hoodie hanging in his closet. Without a word, he gently grabs it and puts it on. </p><p>"I'll be back Pangxie!" </p><p>.</p><p>It's been a while since Renjun got to go around the city by himself. It's nice to hang out with his friends, but in times like this he really needs to be by himself for a while. </p><p>He gets Pangxie's food from the pet store and goes window shopping. He grabs himself some boba and looks for some skincare products. After he buys some hand lotions, Renjun gets hungry. He walks to the ramen shop, past the tutoring center with the hospital in sight behind a few buildings. "I wonder how my friends are doing" he thinks. Renjun gets to the ramen shop. Unfortunately, a line was streaming out of the restaurant so he decides to get something from District V. </p><p>The bus stop is by Cherry Park, so off he went. On the way, he gets stopped by the sight of a convenience store. Renjun looks into the window of the store and spots a familiar candy tin sitting on a shelf with other sweet products. "I want one" he thinks to himself. The human opens the door to the store and walks straight to the tin. The mascot smiles at him as if it was saying, "long time no see Renjun!" to him. Renjun pays for the tin and goes back to his dorm to drop off Pangxie's food.</p><p>Then he grabs a few more dollars and heads for the next bus to District V. </p><p>With the candy tin and the white hoodie on him. </p><p>.</p><p>Whenever Renjun feels tired and unhappy, he would usually crave for his mother's cooking. Especially now since he's in another country. </p><p>So he grabs some dumplings and a scallion pancake to chow down on. It wasn't the exact same as his mother's but it was close enough. </p><p>"You look a little sad today" the shop owner says. Whenever Renjun feels homesick, he would go to a particular dumpling shop in the homey parts of District V. He's gotten close with the shop owner ever since he step foot into the small restaurant. Renjun chuckles a little and smiles sadly at the older lady. "I'm doing fine aunty" he says. The shop owner shakes her head and comes sit at the table he is sitting at. The restaurant was a empty so it was fine for her to console one of her favorite customers. "Renjun, you look upset" she says. The human sighs and pokes at his dumplings. "I am.. but I don't know why.." he replies. The shop owner takes a sip of her blood packet and puts it down. "Tell me everything." </p><p>So Renjun tells her about Jaemin, from start to finish. The lady nods understandingly while he talks, listening to every detail. "So yeah, that's why I've been in the dumps lately" he finishes. The shop owner hums and nods. "Did you try to reconcile with him?" Renjun shakes his head. "I haven't seen him for a while, but even then I wouldn't know how." he replies.</p><p>"We all say things that we regret, but time will do its part and heal" the shop owner says. "It will take some time, but you will come back to each other I'm sure. When you are ready, be sure to talk to him, tell him you're sorry so that he can apologize to you and things will settle." Renjun looks up at the shop owner and and smiles. "Thank you aunty" he says. The shop owner smiles back and gets up from her seat. "Did you drink some milk tea already? I know you always get some when you come to the District." </p><p>"Ah, I already got a cup from the mall in District 127" Renjun says. "Eh? You said you didn't like the milk tea there! Shame, I just made a new batch! Here instead, take these egg tarts. My sister just delivered to me from Hong Kong." Renjun shakes his head and hands. "Oh no, no, that's for you to enjoy aunty!" The lady waves him off and gives him a small box. "Here, just take it. You need to eat sugar, you look as pale as Chenle, and that boy is like a ghost!" The human laughs at the shop owner's comment. "Thank you aunty, really." </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun would go window shopping again after he eats. He buys a grocery bag to carry his stuff (Renjun couldn't carry his egg tarts and candies in his pockets and hands anymore) and looks around the street markets, the clothes stores, and grocery markets. </p><p>On his way out of Feihong's store (he wanted to visit her after so long), Renjun was thinking of going back home. "I'm tired" he thinks. He starts walking to the nearest bus stop. </p><p>But is stopped by a familiar flame. </p><p>There it is again. The spirit responsible for the mental funk Renjun's in right now. This time, the spirit was looking in the windows of a toy store. It senses a presence looking it and turns. It faces Renjun with the swirl of colors moving around his form. A little flame coming out of its "tail" which low key, Renjun finds quite cute. "What are you looking for?" he asks in a quiet tone. The spirit doesn't answer and only stares at the human. "Do you want me to get it for you? I'm sure you do not have money or hands to get it yourself." The spirit moves as if it was shaking its head. It comes closer to Renjun, but the latter backs away. The spirit stops in its tracks and tilts its head. "I don't know if you remember from our last encounter at the mall earlier, but you should know I'm not particularly fond of anything made out of fire" Renjun says to the flaming ghost. </p><p>The spirit stares at Renjun once more, scanning his face and thinking of what to do. Then it gets an idea. It flies over to the window of the store and gestures to one of the stuffed animals near the window. Renjun walks over to the window and looks to where it's pointing at. "You want a bear?" he asks the spirit. The ghost shakes its head and points its tail towards Renjun. The human takes a couple of seconds to try process what it is saying before realizing. "You want me to get that for myself??" The spirit nods. </p><p>Renjun scoffs. "I'm not weak little kid anymore" he spits out. "I don't need some toy to make me feel better-" Renjun stops in the middle of his sentence as he takes a better look at the teddy bear. It was small, smaller then its larger companions sitting next to it. It didn't smile like its companions either, and held a little strawberry in its hands. </p><p>It looked so emotionless yet... endearing. </p><p>The human crouches down to see the price of the bear. 4 dollars it said on the price tag. It wasn't a bad price, and was something Renjun could afford without having to spend his food money. "It is moderately priced.." Renjun says. He looks back up at the spirit. It gestures Renjun to get it. Saying it's ok to buy it for himself. Renjun looks back at the bear. "Ok" he whispers to himself. </p><p>So, he buys it. Renjun walks out of the store with a new friend in his arms. He looks at the bear's face then at the spirit who was waiting for him outside. "Do you think I can be a good friend for it?" he asks. The spirit nods. It then gestures with its tail to the little collar around the bear that said "name me!"  "Are you asking what I should name it?" The spirit nods. Renjun looks back at the bear. He stares at its face, the monotone face. It reminds him of someone. It reminds him of a little boy. A little boy who doesn't seem to have much emotions, but has many. A little boy who wants love from someone and to love that someone. A little boy who looks strong, but is afraid on the inside. </p><p>Renjun gives a sad smile to the bear. "Nana" he whispers. "His name is Nana." He yawns and looks up at the spirit. "Well, that's my outside quota for today. I'll see you around?" The spirit nods and flies off back to its own home. Renjun squeezes Nana in his arms and starts walking to the bus, satisfied with his findings. </p><p>On the bus ride home, Renjun starts to feel sleepy. He hugs Nana more tightly and starts to doze off knowing that traffic is bad at this hour and that he can catch some sleep. </p><p>In his dreams he sees the boy. He sees Nana. Renjun tries to call out for him, but no sound came out of his mouth. Nana turns around and looks at Renjun. With big eyes he runs up to Renjun and hugs him. "I-I'm sorry!!" he cries out. Tears come out of his eyes. "I-I'm really sorry! I really am!" Renjun crouches down towards the little boy's height and frowns. The tears won't stop coming out of his face. "I-I-I'm really sorry, I-Inj-jun" Renjun gives Nana a hug and rubs the little boy on his back. He closes his eyes. "It's ok" he whispers. "It will all be ok" </p><p>
  <i>"It's ok, it will all be ok Injun. Don't worry."</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Renjun wakes up from the sudden honk of the bus. "MOVE THIS IS THE BUS LANE!!" he hears the bus driver shout. Renjun gathers himself together (while questioning the anger management skills of the bus driver) and rubs his eyes. He feels something wet on his cheeks and notices that he was crying. He looks down at Nana and notices some tear stains on top of his bear head. "Oh, sorry" he whispers and tries to rub the tear stain off. "Ugh, I need sugar" he thinks. He ravages through his bag and finds the candy tin he bought earlier. When he finds it, Renjun opens the tin can for a piece.</p><p>
  <i>"You like the yellow ones?"</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Renjun stops. He looks around for whoever asked that question. The people around him were on their phones or sleeping. He looks down at the can again. "Am I going crazy?" he asks himself. He reaches for the piece again. </p><p>
  <i>"They're ok. I like the green ones better."</i>
</p><p> </p><p>"Definitely going crazy" Renjun thinks and pops a yellow piece into his mouth. Instantly, he starts to feel better and closes the lid of the tin. Renjun looks out of the widow for a while until his phone starts to ring. He puts the tin back into the bag and grabs his phone. The caller ID read "Hyuckles." </p><p>"Hello?" </p><p>"Renjun! Are you ok?" </p><p>"Yeah, I'm ok." </p><p>"Good! You haven't answered your calls for the past two days and I was getting worried!" </p><p>Renjun chuckles a little. "Sorry about that Hyuckie, I'm fine." He hears a breath of relief from the other line. "Come to Jisung's place! We're making cookies with Chenle right now cause.. I don't know they felt like it." Renjun chuckles again, this time it was brighter. "Ok, I'll come over. See ya!" </p><p>.</p><p>The human takes a deep breath in front of Jisung's door. This is been the longest he's gone without seeing any of his friends. He squeezes Nana in his arms for comfort and looks down. "You'll like them" he says to the bear. Renjun knocks on the door softly. </p><p>"IT'S OPENNNN" </p><p>Renjun squeezes Nana's paw and opens the door to the dorm. Instantly he is hit by the smell of cookies from the kitchen. "GEGEEEEEEE" Chenle yells. He runs up to Renjun and attacks him with a big hug. "I MISSED YOU GEGE!!" he shouts. Renjun laughs and returns the hug. "I missed you too didi" he says. "RENJUN!!" Donghyuck and Jisung come out of the kitchen and gives him a grand old hug. "Ooo, where did you get the cute bear?" Donghyuck asks. Renjun looks down at Nana and smiles. "A store at District V." </p><p>"He can sit down on the couch while we bake!" Chenle exclaims. Jisung makes an O with his mouth and runs to his room. He comes out with a little mouse stuffed animal and places it on the couch. "You're so cute Jisung" Renjun laughs and places Nana next to Jisung's mouse. "Dang, if I knew we were having a stuffed animal party I would've brought my buddies too!" Donghyuck says.</p><p>The boys would continue to bake another batch with the inclusion of Renjun. "We got bored so Donghyuck hyung stole Jeno hyung's car so we can get ingredients from the market" Jisung nonchalantly says, biting into a cookie. "I didn't STEAL it, I merely.. borrowed it" Donghyuck says. He takes out a new batch out of the oven and sets them on the kitchen counter. Renjun gasps at the amount of individual cookies dotting Jisung's tables. They made chocolate chip, sugar, snickerdoodle, M&amp;Ms, and other cookies that Renjun couldn't even recognize. "So.. what's the plan on what to do with these cookies?" he asks. "We actually have no clue" Donghyuck answers after he pouts at the empty bag of sugar. "I don't think you should make any more in that case" Renjun replies in a amused tone. The merman glares at him and throws the bag away, then goes to turn off the oven. "Hyung! We had another batch baking in there!" Jisung exclaims. </p><p>Renjun sighs and starts opening the cupboards for some sort of container. "How do you guys not have a plastic container in here?" he asks. "I don't cook and Taehyun doesn't like plastic in the house so we just have paper containers" Jisung explains. "Ooo! What if we sell the cookies?" Chenle suggests. The oven timer dings, signaling the completion of the last batch of cookies. "We need a permit for that Lele" Donghyuck says, getting oven mitts to take the tray out. "We can go over and ask Yoonoh hyung to get one!" Chenle replies. Renjun looks around the kitchen and nods. "Yeah, let's pack these cookies in some containers and take them over to the station, maybe we can bribe them into giving us a permit." </p><p>.</p><p>The bribing was a success and the boys were able to sell their cookies for a day in the District U street market. </p><p>There was so much that there was enough for the whole group, Detective Jung and his team at the station, Jisung's and Chenle's roommate, Doyoung, and Chef Nakamoto, plus the customers of the street market. </p><p>"Yo, we should just do this for a living" Donghyuck says, combing through the bills in their money box. Renjun scoffs sarcastically after selling a chocolate chip cookie to a little girl. "What? This is a good way to make money!" the merman exclaims. "It takes a lot of money out for ingredients you know" Renjun says. "Ugh profit, this is why I hate business." Renjun shakes his head and laughs. He sits on a stool they brought for the stand and waits for another customer. "I'm thirsty" Chenle complains. "I can't make more ice cups Le, they're too much work" Jisung says, sitting on a stool of his own. Donghyuck opens the money box and grabs a few bills out of from it. "Get us some drinks then, all four of us." Chenle and Jisung brighten up and grab the wons and run off to a nearest drink stand. "Get something that actually tastes good!" Renjun calls out. </p><p>It would take a long time for Chenle and Jisung to come back with something. Suddenly, Donghyuck had to quote on quote "drop the load real quick", leaving Renjun alone at the stand. The human sells a few cookies here and there, but nonetheless just sits there and plays with his phone. "I wish I brought Nana with me" he thinks. After winning another round of Crossy Road, Renjun notices a presence at the stand. "Hi, what would you like from our cookie-" </p><p>It was the fire spirit. </p><p>It looks up at the crappy sign Donghyuck and Renjun manage to scribble last minute, then looks back at Renjun and tilts its head. "We made too many cookies" Renjun explains. He points to some containers sitting on the floor next to him. "Do you want one? We have a lot." The spirit goes around and looks at the containers at the side. "We have chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, peppermint, rosemary, fudge, oatmeal, and a lot more I can't really name." The fire spirit flies back to the menu on the sign that looked like a preschooler made it then flies back to the side and points at a cookies and cream box. Renjun nods and opens the box. "I'll give it to you for free since you don't have any money" he says, taking out a piece. Renjun closes it then was in the middle of handing it to the spirit when he and the fire ghost get startled from a sudden shout. </p><p>"HUANG THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING??" </p><p>Renjun and the spirit freeze and turn to the person who shouted at him. Donghyuck, Jisung with a cup holder with some drinks in his hands, and Chenle were all staring at them, their mouths hanging wide open. Silently, while keeping his eyes on the three Renjun lets the spirit suck up the cookie into its body. It gives some sort of thank you bow then quickly flies up and away back to its home. Letting the moment process in their brains, the three then quickly run over to the stand. "Are you ok?" Donghyuck says, holding Renjun's shoulders tightly. "It didn't hurt you hyung did it?" Jisung asks after. "Yeah I'm fine, and no it didn't hurt me. It just wanted a cookie." Renjun's friends stare at him again with disbelief. Renjun takes a while to put the pieces together and once he does he puts his hands over his mouth, his eyes wide open. "Holy shit I just fed a spirit a cookie" he whispers. </p><p>"Now you realize??" Donghyuck exclaims. "Not only that, but it was a fire spirit gege! A fire spirit!" Chenle adds on. Renjun's eyes grow further. He puts his own hands on Donghyuck's shoulders and shakes him. "PLEASE DON'T TELL JAEMIN HE'S GOING TO KILL MEEEEE!!" </p><p>"ALRIGHT, I WON'T TELL HIM STOP SHAKING ME- wait." Renjun stops shaking the merman is taken a back from the look on his face. "You just had a really severe fight with him, one that damaged your relationship. Yet, you're still.. thinking... about him." Donghyuck says, tapping his finger on his chin. "Why must that be?" </p><p>"It's because gege is thinking about him all of the time!" </p><p>"Yes thank you Captain Obvious Zhong" Donghyuck replies. Chenle sticks out his tongue as a response and crosses his arms over his chest. After rolling his eyes, Donghyuck turns to Renjun. "Be honest with us, why'd you get the doll?" </p><p>Renjun tilts his head. "Cause I felt like it?" Donghyuck raises an eyebrow. Renjun sighs and rubs the back of his neck. "Well if I were being honest, that fire spirit persuaded me to buy it and-" </p><p>"It PERSUADED you. The fire spirit" Jisung says. Chenle shushes his best friend and beckons for Renjun to go on. "The fire spirit wanted me to buy the doll and I did. It helped me feel a bit better after the.. fight." The human looks up at his friends. Donghyuck held a smug look on his face, as if he figured something out. "What did you say the bear's name was?" </p><p>"Nana" </p><p>"And what is Jaemin's last name?" </p><p>"N-" Renjun widens his eyes. "Hey! Wasn't that Jaemin hyung's nickname when he was younger?" Chenle asks. Jisung nods. "Jeno hyung and I used to call him that every time when we were in elementary school."</p><p>"Think that's a coincidence?" Donghyuck asks. Renjun shakes his head. "No.. it can't be.. Nana's.. the name of the boy I see in my dreams." Donghyuck, Jisung, and Chenle stare at Renjun with confusion. "What dreams?" Chenle asks. Without another word, Donghyuck starts packing up the extra cookies. "Here we'll ask Dean Lee to sell these on campus tomorrow" the merman says. He gives a box for Jisung to hold. "For now, we're going to see Jaemin so you can have the chance to talk to him. Both of you guys are obviously hurting so-" he gives another box to Chenle. "You are going to talk to him." Renjun bites his lip. "What if he doesn't want to see me?" </p><p>Donghyuck gives the human a soft smile. "I'm sure he misses you Renjun. Now I want you to tell us everything about your dreams on the way back to 127. During that time, make sure you pick out some of Jaemin's favorite cookies." </p><p>Renjun looks at the boxes on the floor. "I didn't make any dog biscuits though" he thinks. </p><p>.</p><p>"Ok, start talking" Donghyuck says once they sit down. The group was able to snatch a seat at the back of the bus so they can all sit comfortably together and listen to Renjun. </p><p>"Ok, since I was a kid I would have this dream time to time of a boy. It usually takes place in a forest and depending on how I am feeling, the event is usually different." </p><p>"Elaborate" Donghyuck says, opening a container for a cookie. Renjun thinks. "Well, let's say I'm really relaxed. I had a great day and I'm living life to the fullest. Then the dream would usually be this boy smiling and laughing. He's playing around with leaves from the ground and running around. He's really happy." </p><p>
  <i>"Injun! Let's play!"</i>
</p><p>
  <i>The boy laughs a bright laugh, bringing the smile to Injun's face.</i>
</p><p>"But, when I'm really stressed or I'm frightened, suddenly the dream turns into a nightmare. The boy is laying in a burning forest, lifeless. It's like he's..dead, or the boy would be crying or he's really sad." </p><p>
  <i>"Please.. don't die on me.. You promised that.. that-"</i>
</p><p> </p><p>"And his name is Nana?" Renjun shrugs, looking at his shoes. "I'm not sure, but he keeps saying that he is, and I call him that in my dream, so I assume so." The bus was quiet. It was sunset. Everyone was too tired to talk as they are going home from their jobs. Renjun plays with his fingers and stares off in space. "Is this.. a memory?" Donghyuck asks. Renjun shrugs again. "I don't recall ever going to a forest in my childhood, nor have I ever befriended a boy in that setting." Donghyuck furrows his eyebrows as he's trying to puts the pieces together. Chenle and Jisung share glances then look back at their hyung. Donghyuck hands Renjun a cookie and continues talking. "Have you.. ever seen this boy in real life? Not in a forest, but like in a playground or school." </p><p>The human thinks back to his childhood. He's usually excellent in remembering his past. All of the memories with his brother and parents, getting Gougou, befriending his best friend Yangyang. However there is this blurry spot in his brain that for some reason is blank. It's around the time when he was about five or so. Renjun feels like there's a chunk missing at that age. "No, but I think I know when I might've met him." </p><p>The bus arrives at Neo University. The boys get off and head straight to Donghyuck's and Jeno's dorm. </p><p>.</p><p>"Renjun! You're ok!" Jeno answers. Renjun smiles at his friend and nods. "Yeah I am." Mark pokes his head through the doorway and gives the human a surprised but delighted smile. "Renjun! How are you doing?" </p><p>"I'm fine, thank you" Renjun laughs. Donghyuck nudges Renjun with his elbow. The latter clears his throat and takes a deep breath to calm himself. "I actually was wondering if.. Jaemin was ok." Jeno and Mark share nervous glances then look back at Renjun. Donghyuck raises a eyebrow, Chenle and Jisung narrow their eyes. "I want to talk to him, uh i-if he's ok! I don't want to put him in a worse state." Jeno laughs anxiously and starts closing the door. "Wait Jeno, what the heck are you doing" Donghyuck asks. Jeno doesn't say anything else and shuts the door in his friend's faces without an explanation. </p><p>"I guess he's not ready" Renjun says quietly and starts to walk back to his own dorm. Chenle stops him by grabbing Renjun's arm. "Just because they closed the door in our faces doesn't mean that Jaemin isn't ready" Donghyuck says. He then starts to aggressively bang on the door. "GUYS LET US IN!!" </p><p>"No!" </p><p>"LET. US. IN!!" </p><p>"No!" </p><p>"At least tell us why you're not letting us in!" Chenle shouts. A few moments of silence then the door opens a crack revealing Mark's eye. "We promised Jaemin not to tell you guys anything" he says. "About what!" Donghyuck shouts. Mark doesn't say anything more and shuts the door. "Holy shit, you guys are the worst" the merman groans. Renjun tilts his head. "Wait Hyuck don't you live here?" </p><p>The expression on Donghyuck's face brightens. "In the matter of fact I do! I also have the key to my OWN DORM ROOM!!" He starts to dig around his pockets for his keys. When he finds out they're not in there, Donghyuck starts digging through the cookie bags and supplies. "How do you not have your own keys" Jisung deadpans. "Hey! Speak for yourself young man! Do you want me to remind you the key incident?" Jisung and Chenle shudder. "No, continue he'll shut up" Chenle says. </p><p>Donghyuck couldn't find his key in the end. "Lucky you gave me a spare key for your dorm" Renjun sighs as a he goes through his key ring. "Found it" he says and starts to unlock the door. </p><p>"HYUNG AVENGE MEEEEE" </p><p>As soon as the door opens, Jeno suddenly tackles Renjun to the ground, bringing Jisung and Chenle down with him. "YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME!!" Mark shouts and starts booking for it to the elevators. </p><p>"Hyung, we have cookieeees." </p><p>Mark stops, but doesn't turn around. "HYUNG DON'T FALL FOR IT!" Jeno yells. Renjun bites the arm of his captor, making him scream in pain. "That's what you get for trying to pull me down you idiot" he says. He starts to run after Mark, who uses his super speed to get to the elevator. "What! No fair!" Renjun whines. Donghyuck rolls his eyes and walks over to the elevators, calmly and collectively. </p><p>In the meanwhile, Jisung and Chenle tries to work together to turn Jeno over, but it fails terribly. "YOU CHILDREN CAN'T DEFEAT MEEE" Jeno shouts. Renjun gives the wolf a dead stare and just walks into the dorm room. "Hyung where you going! Help, us!" Jisung calls out. </p><p>"I'm searching for clues" Renjun yells back. He greets Geran and goes into Jeno's room. His eyes scan the room for any sign of the pink haired hybrid. "Nope nothing here" he thinks. He closes the door then looks at the living room. Nothing really changed from the time Renjun and his friends made that cake. The only thing that really changed was the couch which now is a nice gray rather then a dirty beige. There was also something missing, but Renjun couldn't put his finger on it. "Jeno" The wolf looks up from the ground at his friend. "Did Jaemin go somewhere?" Jeno's eyes widen. Renjun narrows his eyes at the wolf. "Lee Jeno" he says in a stern voice. Jeno pouts but shakes his head. "No! I won't say anything!" </p><p>"HE DIDN'T DENY IT!" Jeno shuts Chenle's mouth with his hand. Renjun presses his lips together and looks around the room again. He's about to walk out when he steps on something sharp. "Ow" he hisses. He looks at his white sock, which is now turning red on the sole of his foot. "What the heck?" he yells. Renjun hops on one foot onto the couch and takes off his sock. Jeno, now concerned let's go of Chenle and Jisung and runs with them into the dorm. "I'll get the first aid kit, guys look around the floor for any more pieces of glass." </p><p>Glass? Renjun looks at the counter of the kitchen. His eyes widen at a realization. Recently, Jeno and Donghyuck had bought a glass vase for more foliage. Now putting the pieces together, Renjun sees that the vase is gone and a part of it just stabbed his foot. "Ok hold still ya?" Jeno says. Carefully, Jeno takes out the piece of glass with a pair of tweezers. "Ow!" Renjun exclaims. "Sorry" Jeno says. He puts ointment on the injury then puts a band aid on it. "There. Sorry about that, our vase fell yesterday so there's some glass pieces left on the floor." </p><p>"Um, no it didn't" The boys turn to Donghyuck and a guilty Mark standing in the door way. "That vase was in perfect condition this morning, it didn't break before I left to Jisung's place." Jeno gulps. "What chu got" Renjun asks. "Well, first we gotta get these cookies in here. I ain't giving these babies out for free so I will not tolerate stealing." </p><p>The group bring the cookie boxes into the dorm and get comfortable. "Ok, start talking. Mark hyung already told me Jaemin went to Seoul" Donghyuck deadpans. Jeno whips his head at Mark hyung with furrowed eye brows. "I'm sorry, he kept kissing me! You know I can't resist those!" The wolf sighs and shakes his head. "Love" he says in a disappointed tone. Donghyuck clears his throat for an explanation. "Yes it's true, Jaemin went to Seoul, but we don't know why. Possibly it's because he needed to clear his head, but knowing the dude since birth I know he doesn't go to another city to feel better." </p><p>"Did you guys fight?" Renjun asks, pointing at the empty space where the vase once stood. Jeno shakes his head. "No, Jaemin just.. broke it." Renjun furrows his eyebrows. "It's true! Jeno and I were giving Jaemin some space in the living room when all of the sudden we heard a glass breaking" Mark says. "He just apologized, announced that he's going to Seoul and told us not to tell you, then left." </p><p>"What the fuck" Donghyuck says. "He broke our lovely crystal 10 dollar vase then left?" Jisung shrugs. "Maybe he was feeling well." </p><p>"If he wasn't feeling well, he would've looked like he was about to pass out, not kill someone" Mark says. "Kill someone? He was angry? Did you hear any shouting from the other room?" Renjun asks. "No, it was actually really quiet up until the glass shattering" Jeno says. "Ok, this is super weird. I know Jaemin is a really private guy, but I feel like we need to look for him. This sounds a little dangerous" Donghyuck says. Renjun looks down at his bracelet. It glints from the light of the lamp next to the couch, making its lilac color stand out. "If he's in trouble, it should glow" he thinks. Gayoon's father told Renjun that it only glows when HE'S in trouble. However, the human feels like that maybe the bracelet determines Jaemin's safety too. </p><p>Suddenly it starts to glow. </p><p>Renjun snaps his head up from the bracelet. He looks around the living room. Nothing was out of the ordinary, nothing seemed out of place. He gets up and sprints towards the porch and looks out of the screen door. "Renjun what are you doing?" Jeno asks. "My bracelet just started glowing, something's up."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading guys!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0030"><h2>30. 16. The Fire Spirit's Home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group walks into the abandoned part of District U.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi guys! </p><p>Thank you for coming back to read this fic, and the support you have been giving it thus far! I have enjoyed reading all of your theories, hypothesis, and others from the last chapter, so please keep them coming! From what I have seen, most of them are pretty on the spot, but didn't exactly hit the mark-</p><p>and that is all I can say for now hehe.</p><p>Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>TRIGGER WARNING: A SCENE IN THIS CHAPTER MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME READERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.</b>
</p><p>"GAH!" </p><p>The group stops running upon Mark's scream. In front of them was the fire spirit that keeps hanging around Renjun. The human looks down at his bracelet. It was still glowing, but the color did not turn darker. "Why did Doyoung hyung had to take our spirit balls away in the wrong time!" Donghyuck groans. The fire spirit did nothing but stare at Renjun. "What is it, there's trouble, and we can't risk someone getting hurt" he says harshly. The spirit uses its tail as a gesture to follow it, then flies away. "Yeah, I don't think we should follow it" Jeno says, staring at the back of the spirit with suspicion. Noticing the group isn't following it, the spirit stops and turns around. It begs Renjun to come with it to wherever it needs to go. </p><p>Renjun sighs. </p><p>"Let's go" he says, and starts running. "Are you crazy?? This is like saying "yes, you can murder me in my sleep" to a serial killer!!" Donghyuck yells. "I'll go get the car, you and Jisung follow Renjun" Mark says. Donghyuck nods and runs with Jisung after Renjun and the spirit while the others dash to the student parking lot. </p><p>.</p><p>The spirit had led the trio to the hospital. It would point up to the 27th floor and fly up, leaving them with no further answers. "Isn't that the floor where the cardiovascular ward is?" Jisung says, his tone marking with hesitation. Renjun looks down at his bracelet. It became much darker then it was back at campus. "We gotta check out, let's go." </p><p>"Wait!" Donghyuck grabs a tree branch from the floor and tosses it to Renjun. "You didn't bring your potions today" he says and goes ahead and runs into the lobby. Renjun smiles and tells Jisung to follow. </p><p>Nothing was out of the ordinary in the cardiovascular ward, but to make sure, the trio decides to scope out the floor. "Make sure hyung doesn't see you!" Renjun whispers. Donghyuck and Jisung nod. They go into the cardiovascular section of the floor while Renjun tries to go into the spirit lab. "Shoot, I don't have my ID" he groans. At that moment, Renjun hears a bonk on the window next to the doors of the lab. He looks, the spirit was holding a small rock in its tail and was waiting for Renjun to let it in. </p><p>The human runs up to the glass and opens it a bit. "Don't break the window!" he whispers. The spirit flies in and waits for Renjun to close the window. "Ok, now what" he says. The spirit looks around the floor. It points with its tail at the lab. "I don't have my ID, we can't get in." The spirit sinks a little. It turns a pale orange and begins to look around nervously. "What is it? Why do you look so scared?" Renjun asks, now with concern. </p><p>Suddenly, something bursts in the laboratory. </p><p>Coming out of the lab was another fire spirit. While the one with Renjun was much smaller, and more smooth, the one coming out of the lab was spiker, bigger, and seemed to be much more powerful. It bursts with flames once it sees its brethren. The fire spirit with Renjun meekly backs away from the bigger one, looking a bit guilty and frightened. </p><p>"S-stop!" The bigger spirit pauses. It turns its attention to Renjun, who gulps from the image of the flaming ghost in front of him. "I-I d-don't know.. what you're d-doing, but.. stop!" The big fire spirit glares at Renjun with the flames all around its body. It starts inching closer to Renjun, while the human starts to move backwards.</p><p>"Stop!" </p><p>It moves closer. </p><p>"Please..stop" </p><p>It charges up a fire ball from its tail and gets ready to throw it at Renjun. It doesn't get to though, as the little fire spirit throws a fire ball at the bigger one first. Renjun gasps. His eyes widen as he watches two drastically different sized fire spirits go head to head against each other in the middle of the floor. </p><p>"Hyung!!" Renjun's eyes switches from the fire balls to his friends and Doyoung standing from the cardiovascular ward, aghast at the fight. "Donghyuck, Jisung! Get Renjun into the lab! Hurry!" the ghost says. Renjun squeezes his eyes together. "I'm strong, I'm strong. I'm not weak, I'm not useless-</p><p>I'm not just a human." </p><p>With the limited strength he has, Renjun plunges the branch that Donghyuck had given him into the ground and let it grow onto it like the roots of a old tree. He takes a deep breath then grows a branch to impale the bigger spirit. </p><p>It misses the core of the spirit, but only by a bit. </p><p>"Renjun, what the heck are you doing??" Donghyuck yells. "We can't let these spirits burn the hospital floor, use your powers quickly! Water and ice beats fire!" Renjun yells back. </p><p>"Actually, fire beats ice" Jisung says. Without a reply Renjun uses the branch again to strike the bigger spirit by its core. It misses again, but the damage is greater.</p><p>The sound of a large door is heard from the other side of the ward. Doyoung had closen the cardiovascular ward to protect the patients and had slip out in time. "Jisung, come with me to get a spirit capsule! Donghyuck, help Renjun!" </p><p>At this time, the rest of the group had made it to the floor from the elevator. "AHH FIRE FIGHT!!" Chenle yells. Mark runs to the fire alarm and pulls it down, causing a siren to ring throughout the building and for the sprinkler to turn on. "No!" Renjun yells. "Don't turn on the sprinkler! It'll-" </p><p>It was too late. The sprinklers turn on, hurting both spirits greatly. Renjun runs to the smaller ghost and encases it in a little shield and opens a window for it to escape. "Go! Hurry!" he says. He breaks the shield and lets the smaller spirit free. It thanks Renjun for its efforts with a bow, then flies away quickly back to its home. </p><p>Renjun turns around after, then immediately falls back against the wall from the sight of a angry, but dying fire spirit. He starts to panic, but catches his breath as Donghyuck shoots a water ball at the fire spirit, making it fly out of the open window. "Hah! That's what you get for trying to hurt others!" Donghyuck yells out. </p><p>Everyone lets the sprinklers soak them after the chaos. At this point, all of the patrons had left the building. The patients and doctors in the cardiovascular ward had left at the emergency stair case  inside the area. No one, but the boys and the doctor, was left in the building. </p><p>"I think you guys can come back to spirit hunting now" Doyoung says, a little shocked. "Now you think that??" Donghyuck shouts. </p><p>Renjun smacks him in the head with the tree branch to make him shut up. </p><p>.</p><p>After a lengthy talk with the director and the firemen on how no, the building did not catch on fire thanks to the group, and seeing that the rest of the spirits were safe, the group went into business. </p><p>"It looks like the fire spirit escaped from the container. It was the spirit we caught a couple weeks ago" Mark says coming from the containment room with the doctor. "How did it escape?" Chenle asks. "It burned a hole in the door, it's much more powerful then we thought" Doyoung explains. Renjun nods and thinks. Much of the spirits they have caught had the same amount of strength. This was the first spirit he had really seen that held such mighty power. </p><p>Doyoung goes around to take a seat at the coffee table and pats Renjun's shoulder on the way. "You did well Renjun" he says. Renjun bites his lip. "Y-you're not mad?" Doyoung shakes his head. "No, I'm actually proud of you. Not only did you take initiative against the spirit, which I highly am still against, you got over your fear of fire." Renjun looks down at his lap. "Well.. got over it for a few seconds" Doyoung gently chuckles. </p><p>"So, what do we do now?" Jeno asks. Doyoung sighs and leans back against the chair. He jumps when there was still some residue on it from the sprinklers. "Oh, did I miss one?" Donghyuck says. He moves the droplets from the chair up from the air and disperses it into the atmosphere of the room. "Great, now it's more damp in here" Jisung says, scrunching his nose. "Thanks Donghyuck. Anyways, I need to tell you guys to be careful when it comes to combating against spirits." The group glue their attention at the doctor. "Our goal isn't to kill them, it's to save them. Part of the process of reviving is healing. We must heal their grudges and hatred so when they go back to society, they can be at peace with themselves and live a second life." </p><p>Doyoung takes a moment to gather his words. "That is why, you need to be careful not to kill them. It is not their time yet, it wasn't supposed to be their time." The room was silent. The group waits for the doctor to speak again, but he doesn't. Instead, Doyoung gets up from his chair and walks over to the door. "I'm going to check up on my patients. In the meanwhile I want you guys to relax. Mark can you come with me?" The vampire nods and gets up from his chair to go help. </p><p>Another moment of silence passes after they both leave. "So" Donghyuck starts. "Who wants to visit our lovely friend, the cafeteria?" </p><p>.</p><p>"Never did I think that I would miss the kimchee stew here" Renjun says, scooping a spoonful of rice in his bowl. "I know right? Who knew!" Donghyuck exclaims. The group eats peacefully alone at their own table in the hospital's cafeteria. They chat, but not as much as they had used to before.</p><p>"What do you think that spirit's motive could've been?" Chenle asks, mouthful of quail eggs. Before Renjun could act, Jisung covers Chenle's mouth. "Eat before you speak Le" he says. Donghyuck laughs at the sight then goes back to slurping some soup. "Who knows, maybe it just wanted to go back home" he says after. "Who would want to go back.. there though" Renjun says. The table runs silent. "Maybe those who lost their true home" Chenle suggests. </p><p>They go back to eating their food silently. Donghyuck finishes his plate and starts to clean up when he notices Jeno staring at something outside of the cafeteria. "What are you staring at?" he asks. Jeno points at a light brown wolf, staring at the group from the bushes. "Him" he says. Renjun turns and almost chokes on his food. The wolf notices Jeno staring at him back then looks at Renjun. His eyes soften at the sight of his roommate, relieved that he, along with the rest of his friends, were safe and sound. </p><p>The wolf gets out of the bushes and leaves. Jeno drops his things and gets up to follow him, his eyes glued on the strange wolf. Renjun follows him, to keep watch of Jeno. "Can you guys stop following strange things for like a second!" Donghyuck groans. He cleans up his plate and tells Chenle and Jisung stay. "But we want to see too!" Chenle argues. "Eat your food, you need to grow little one." </p><p>"I'm taller then you though!" </p><p>"Just eat your food!" Donghyuck yells as he's running out of the cafeteria. Chenle pouts and chomps on a piece of fish cake. Jisung pats on his back sympathetically and steals a piece of gobo from Jeno's plate. </p><p>Meanwhile, Jeno had turned into his wolf form and stopped the light brown wolf from walking away. </p><p>They don't snarl at each other. They just stare at each other, one glancing at the other with curiosity and confusion. "What are they doing?" Donghyuck asks. "Figuring things out" Renjun replies. The light brown wolf breaks eye contact with Jeno and looks up at Renjun. It slowly walks up to Renjun and looks at him with guilty eyes. </p><p>"I'm sorry" it says. "Please forgive me, I was wrong." Renjun crouches down and pets the wolf's head. "I'm sorry" his eyes say again. "I'm sorry too" Renjun whispers. "I'm really, really sorry." The wolf buries its head in Renjun's arms and sighs. His eyes starts to drift to a close when suddenly his ears start to perk up. He opens them then whips its head to the right. The wolf looks up at Renjun again.</p><p>"I'm sorry Renjun." </p><p>He then gets out of Renjun's arms then runs after what he had heard. Jeno, still in his wolf form, looks up at Renjun with confusion then goes after the light brown wolf. "Ok, you gotta tell me later what that's all about" Donghyuck says, and runs after the two wolves. </p><p>"What's going on?" Chenle asks, coming out with a popsicle with Jisung. Renjun turns to Chenle and Jisung, then at the road. "Should I follow? Should I not?" Renjun clenches his fists then sighs. "Go after Donghyuck and Jeno and call me when you get there. I'm going to go ask Doyoung hyung a question and get Mark hyung. We'll come as soon as we can" he says, then rushes into the cafeteria to the ward. </p><p>Chenle quickly gobbles up his ice cream bar and runs after his hyungs. "Wait! Le!" Jisung calls out. He eats the rest of his bar in one big bite then follows his best friend.</p><p>.</p><p>Doyoung raises an eyebrow. "A light brown wolf?" he asks. Renjun nods. "You must know who that is." The ghost presses his lips together and looks at his clip board. "Mark, go shadow Dr. Yoo for a moment." Mark furrows his eyebrows but nods nonetheless. Doyoung beckons for Renjun to follow him to the office. Once they get to the room, Doyoung sits at his desk. </p><p>"So Jaemin is back?" Renjun nods. Doyoung pulls out a notebook from the drawer of his desk. "And you want to know why." Renjun nods again. The doctor sighs. "Beats me, that boy goes everywhere without me knowing. I'm surprised that you knew he went out of the city." Renjun watches as Doyoung takes a pen from his pen holder and draws a Hanja character. He flips the paper around and shows it to the human. "Do you know what this character means?" </p><p>"Yes, it means "poison"' Renjun says. "I think, I know why Jaemin may have went to Seoul. However, it's really long and complicated so I can't explain it to you. The person who can do that is Jaemin himself." Renjun clenches his fists. Great, more secrets to find out. "What I can tell you is that if you see this character on any of the city walls, stay clear away from that area. I mean it. You can die if you step one to close towards that area." Doyoung puts the notebook back into his desk and the pen back in the pen holder. "When you see Jaemin, make sure to come to Taeil hyung's flower shop so we can talk this through." Renjun doesn't react. "I know that didn't work last time, but I'm hoping that this time thing's will go smoothly." The doctor gets up from his desk and walks to the door of the office. "Come on, let's go get Mark so you can join the rest of your friends." </p><p>.</p><p>Doyoung had given Mark and Renjun spirit balls before they left. "Just in case, you never know" he had said. Once the two got into Mark's car, Renjun immediately called Chenle. And the leprechaun, immediately picked up. </p><p>"Chenle, where are you guys?" </p><p>"Uh, we are sort of just.. lingering in front of the abandoned buildings in District U." </p><p>Mark, listening through speaker phone, groans and gives himself a face palm. "Ok, we'll be there. What are you guys doing now?" Renjun says to Chenle. The younger doesn't say anything for a while then replies with; "Well, Jeno hyung is kind of arguing with a security guard right now." </p><p>"Oh geez, we could get arrested today" Mark says with big eyes. Renjun tells Chenle they'll be there then hangs up the phone. Mark then starts the car to get to District U. "Is this the same wolf that saved you at the mall the other day?" he asks. "Yup" Renjun replies. </p><p>"Do you know him?" </p><p>Renjun freezes. "What do you mean?" Mark eyes Renjun with suspicion. "Well, that wolf just jumped right in front of you and that spirit right? You guys must be very close for him to risk himself for you." Renjun doesn't say anything. He looks out of the window of the car, and watches all of the buildings and skyscrapers fly past by. "Yeah I know him. He saved me from a group of vampires way back" he says after. Mark hums. "Interesting, he's kinda like your guardian angel." Renjun looks at the river when they reach the bridge. </p><p>Guardian angel, huh. </p><p>.</p><p>"What the heck are you guys doing here?" </p><p>Donghyuck looks up from the ground and runs up to Renjun and Mark. "FRIEEENDD, BOYFRIEEEND" he screams, then hugs them both. "Jeno hyung tried arguing with the security guard to get in the abandoned area, but we got threatened by the guard who said he will call the police on us" Jisung deadpans. Renjun eyes Jeno while being squeezed by Donghyuck. The wolf was in his Samoyed form, his back turned against Renjun and Mark. "He's sulking right now" Donghyuck says, once he lets his death grip go. The trio looks at the white dog in unison. Said dog looks back at the trio with moody eyes then whips his head back. "Yeesh, I think this is the worst form of Jeno I've ever seen" Renjun says. </p><p>Mark tilts his head to the side. "I don't get it, why were you trying so hard to get into that area? You know that place is running with dangerous spirits." Jeno's tail moves up and down on the ground. "He said it was because of that wolf" Chenle says. "How did you know what he was saying?" Renjun asks. Chenle shrugs and takes a bite out of a ice cream cone. "It's easy once you have seen it for 9 years." Jeno whines and turns to Chenle. He looks at the cone in his hand and takes a bite out of it. "Hey! That was my last one!" The dog doesn't say anything else and trots over to Jisung, who just pets his head. </p><p>"Ok... Why are you so invested in that wolf?" Renjun asks. After finishing the cone (no one still doesn't know where it came from), Jeno turns into his human form. "Same reason as you Renjun. I'm curious. He's a wolf I've never seen before and the fact that he just comes out of nowhere whenever you're not safe is strange to me." Mark pats Renjun's shoulder. "So he is your guardian angel huh?" he laughs. "Gege has a guardian angel?! Woah, you must've done something great in your past life!" </p><p>Renjun shrugs. He notices a glint of lilac from the corner of his eye when he crosses his arms. He looks down. The bracelet was glowing again, this time the rest of the group noticed too. "Ok, let's forget about the wolf and do something, quick" Donghyuck says. Renjun lifts his wrist and uses his bracelet as a compass. He brings it to the direction of a street, and it starts to glow stronger. "This way" he says. "That's where the abandoned area is" Jisung says. Jeno gets up from the ground and looks in the direction of the street. "That means it's going to be really dangerous. We should just drop this one and get back to 127." The group gives a silent agreement. Renjun looks at his friends then at the street. "I hope Jaemin will be ok" he thinks. </p><p>"Guys!" The boys turn to who had called them. Jungwoo was waving and running up to them. "Jungwoo hyung!" Donghyuck exclaims. After he caught up to the group, Jungwoo gives them a big, puppy like smile. "What chu guys doing over here? I got bored so I'm going to visit my boyfriend at the flower shop." Renjun's eyebrows raise. "Your boyfriend.. is Taeil hyung? The dragon protector of the stream??" </p><p>"He's a what now??" Donghyuck exclaims. Renjun looks at Donghyuck like it was obvious, then realizes that he along with the rest of the group wasn't with him at the back of the shop the day of the fight. Jungwoo nods. "Yeah, that's my Taeil hyung alright. Such a strong person who has such a....tiny body. Come on, come with me! I bet you guys have nothing to do anyway." The group share glances. "Wouldn't hurt to visit.. right? It's just flowers" Mark says. Renjun bites his lip. He knows it's not just flowers when it comes to Moon Taeil. Though it would be good to stay in the district in case Jaemin gets hurt. That way when he needs it, Renjun can come help.</p><p>"Let's go guys! I want to see my boyfriend all ready!!" Jungwoo calls out, and starts running towards the flower shop. "He's kinda like Hyuck" Jeno teases. Donghyuck puffs up his cheeks and hugs Mark's arm. "No! I don't give you guys a chance to catch up. When I want to see my boyfriend, I'm going to see my boyfriend." The group laughs, and walk to the flower shop.</p><p>.</p><p>The bell of the shop rings, telling Taeil that a customer has come. "Hi, how can I-UMPH!" </p><p>"HYUUUNNGGG" Jungwoo yells out. He hugs Taeil even tighter and caresses his cheek with his own. "Jung.woo.I.can't.breathe." Jungwoo pouts. "Just a few more minutes, I missed you you know!!" </p><p>"But we just met a few hours ago for a date." Jungwoo lets go of Taeil, who finally takes a breath. "I bought friends!" Jungwoo excitingly says. After catching his breath, Taeil looks up at the boys and smiles. "Oh hi! I was wondering when you guys were going to show up. Can all of you come with me to the back? Jungwoo, please turn the sign to closed before coming with us thank you." Jungwoo nods and kisses Taeil on the cheek. He then skips to the front of the door, then to the garden in the back.</p><p>"Wow, he is like me, but more.. stronger.." Donghyuck says. "Please for the love of god, I don't think I can handle another Donghyuck" Renjun groans. The merman turns to his best friend and pouts. "Wai Renjunie? You down't wike me?" he says, mustering up the best amount of aegyo he can. Renjun gags and starts running towards the backroom. "RENJWUNNIEEEEE" Donghyuck shouts, running after the human. </p><p>Taeil looks at the rest for an explanation. "We don't really know either" Mark says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Taeil shrugs and gestures to the back room. "Feel free to chow down on any of the cookies I put on the table." </p><p>.</p><p>"We're going to make you go into the abandoned part of District U." </p><p>Jisung spits out his drink and starts to cough rapidly. Donghyuck freezes mid bite of a cookie, Jeno and Chenle stares at Taeil with disbelief. Mark and Renjun stare at Taeil with less disbelief but more with concern. </p><p>"Well I'M going to send you to the abandoned part of District U, Jungwoo's just here." The mentioned gumiho pouts. "Why, that's mean Taeil-ah!" Taeil smiles at his boyfriend apologetically. "I'll let you cuddle me tonight how's that?" he asks in a gentle voice. Jungwoo drops the pout and taps his finger on his chin. "Give me kisses too and I'll go back to the store." </p><p>"Don't you have to go back to the restaurant anyway?" Donghyuck asks. Jungwoo glares at the younger for disrupting his conversation with Taeil then turns to the dragon. "Ok, ok, you got a deal" he laughs. Jungwoo smiles and pecks Taeil on his head. "See you!" he exclaims and walks out of the area with a good bye to the college students.  </p><p>Taeil watches Jungwoo walk out of the store then turns back to the boys. "As the guardian of Neo City's stream, I am a officially giving you a mission, along with Jaemin who is not here, but I'm not going to waste my time to bring him here." Renjun silently takes a bite of his cookie. "What's the mission?" Mark asks. Taeil smiles and looks over at the direction of the abandoned area. "It's a rather long one, so it's going to be split into little mini tasks. Generally, I am asking you guys to take out the Dok Zuzhi." </p><p>"The what who now?" Donghyuck asks. "Dok Zuzhi, they are an organization that uses the poisonous gas element to harm humans and supernaturals" Taeil explains. Chenle turns to Renjun and whispers in Chinese. "They really have a straightforward name don't they?" Renjun snickers in response. "Why do you want us to take them out? Why not you or any of the other more powerful beings?" Jeno asks. Taeil gives him a small smile and sighs. "The higher ups really doesn't want us to not not pay attention to the jobs that were already given to us. After Son O Gong went ahead and trashed Haneullim's birthday party, the deities don't really trust us guardians that much anymore. Oh you should've seen the look on Samjang's face! It was hilarious!" Renjun's mouth falls open. "Son O Gong?? He's real??" The dragon turns to Renjun with wide eyes. "Of course! Ah that's right, you're human I forgot they don't really believe in us guardians haha." </p><p>Suddenly Renjun feels a little guilty. </p><p>"Anyways, you guys are not here to hear spirit world gossip, you guys are here to prepare. The Dok Zuzhi are no joke, and are very dangerous people. Most of them are masters of the poisonous gas element, which is the deadliest of them all." Taeil gets up from his chair and reaches under the table. He pulls out a brown box and places it on the surface. "Of course, I'm not just going to send you guys to immediately fight the Dok Zuzhi. You need to practice and train in order to defeat them for good so-" The flower shop owner opens the box and brings out different items from inside. He places them all on the table for the boys to see, then closes the box. "-I am giving you these tools to some of you to help you in battle."</p><p>The group looks in awe at the items sitting in front of them, though they also question them a bit. "These items are bit strange" Donghyuck notes. "Yeah, how are we supposed to use shaman bells in a battle?" Mark asks. Taeil grabs the shaman bells and shakes them, letting them ring a little sound. "Why, I'll show you."</p><p>They watch Taeil go out to the field of the garden with the bells in his hand. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Then, he opens them and swings them in a particular direction. The bells on the stick fly off, with water trailing behind them. Using the handle in his hand, Taeil directs the flying water bells to any direction he wants. It was graceful, and brilliant like how water should be. The water dragon eyes a particular plant. He guides the bells towards that plant and chops it in half. "Woah!" Renjun exclaims. "That was so fast!" Satisfied with his demonstration, Taeil directs the bells back to the handle, bringing them back to their regular shaman bell appearance. </p><p>Taeil bows as the group claps for him. He walks back with a big smile and lays the bells back on the table. "See, these items are much more then what they seem. Let me introduce them to you guys."  He grabs a dog whistle and presents it to Jeno. "Here's your tool. I'm sure you know how to use it." Jeno laughs nervously and takes the whistle. "May I ask what it does?" Taeil nods his head towards the whistle in Jeno's hand. "Blow into it." The wolf looks at the whistle with a frown. It takes him a moment to finally blow the long silver metal in his hand. No sound came out of it as it is made for dogs and wolves. Only Jeno is able to hear it. His eyes widen. "Jungwoo hyung and Johnny hyung are here" he says. Renjun raises an eyebrow. "How do you know-" </p><p>"HYUNNNGGGG!!" The group turns around in shock, watching Jungwoo walk onto the porch with Johnny waiting at the doorway. "Yo" Johnny greets casually. "I left my little toy here" Jungwoo says, and grabs a key chain from the table. "Jungwoo" Taeil says with a little concern. "I know, I should take more care of it. I will hyung don't worry" he says and pecks the dragon on the cheek before waving good bye at the others. "Let's go hyung!" he says cheerfully. Johnny bids good bye and follows his manager. </p><p>After they left, Jeno looks at Taeil, filled with questions. "The sound that the whistle makes bounces off of the people near you. That way you know where they are and who they are." Jeno's mouth hangs open. "That's.. amazing!!" Taeil nods. "It sure is! Wow, I got to explain everything to you guys huh?" he says looking at the items. "Well, yeah we don't know what these things do" Donghyuck replies. Taeil picks up a jade ring and gives it to Mark. "Put this on your ring finger, the one without the couple ring I don't want Donghyuck here to get mad, and touch the top using your thumb." Mark does so. His pupils become smaller, he starts looking around in panic. "GAHH! WHAT'S HAPPENING!?!?" he screams. "Is he ok?" Donghyuck asks. "Of course! Just like Jeno, you can see where each individual person is. You can see them, because of their blood!" </p><p>"This is a bit frightening" Mark comments and takes his thumb off of of the ring. "You need to trust yourself when it comes to working with blood. In the hospital and out." Taeil says. He turns to Jeno. "And you must understand that you are in control of your abilities. You control the whistle, not the other way around." Jeno and Mark share glances and stare at Taeil. "Doyoung likes to tell me stories about you boys. He's really fond of you guys you know. Anyways back on track, Donghyuck here's yours."</p><p>The merman lights up at the sound of his name. He approaches the table happily but stops when he sees what he is receiving. "Y-you're giving me the shaman bells?" he asks, voice laced with worry. "Of course! Your elemental is water right?" Donghyuck presses his lips together. Taeil notices the nervous expression on the boy's face, one that rarely shows to other people. He opens Donghyuck's hands and places the bells in them. "Here, just take it. You don't have to use them, but please do practice with them." The merman looks at Taeil's face and gives a weak smile. "Thank you... Taeil ssi." </p><p>Renjun frowns a bit upon seeing this side of Donghyuck. Over the past three years, the merman has been doing a wonderful job controlling his powers. It's really sad to see how he still lacks the confidence to use them and to do more things. Renjun comes up to his best friend and puts a supporting hand on his shoulder. Donghyuck looks at him and smiles, a thank you one you might add. "All right, Jisung here" The young boy reaches out and accepts five small sliver balls lace together with a leather strap. "These are ice bombs. They may be small, but they create big explosions so you must be careful with them." Similar to Donghyuck's reaction, Jisung looks at the balls in his hands with nervousness. </p><p>"I can't accept these, I don't know how to fully grasp 100% of my powers" he says in a low tone. Taeil tilts his head. "Aren't you a fae?" he asks. Jisung nods, but avoids the eyes of the dragon. Taeil sighs. "I want you and Donghyuck to practice with your tools. These tools require great confidence and control. Don't use these just yet ok?" Jisung and Donghyuck both look up at the dragon. "Then can we leave these with you?" the merman asks. "No, because you need to get used to handling them on your own" Taeil says in a stern voice. </p><p>"What about, Renjun ge, Jaemin hyung, and I?" Chenle asks. There was nothing left in the box. Taeil smiles down at the old brown thing sitting on top of the table and looks up. "You won't need a tool, I'm sure about that. As for Renjun and Jaemin-" Taeil looks at the human and his bracelet. "You have that thing around your wrist, and Jaemin...well, he has you." Renjun furrows his eyebrows, but doesn't get to ask Taeil what he meant. </p><p>"Now listen up." The ears of the boys perk up. "I am now going to give you your first mission. Well really this is more like a practice mission, but nonetheless you're going to be going into the abandoned area." Renjun gulps. Practice or not, they're going to be going into the place they have been told to avoid out of fear of harm. This is more dangerous then anything they have done before. </p><p>Taeil crosses his arms over his chest and looks at every with a serious gaze. </p><p>"I'm going to need you guys to retrieve a certain brown wolf from that area." </p><p>.</p><p>And that is how the boys ended up hiding behind a wall.</p><p>"This is so fucking stupid" Donghyuck whispers.</p><p>"Agreed, can't we just go home?" Jisung asks. </p><p>"And reject a mission from a water dragon? No way!" Renjun whispers back. </p><p>"Jisung, move your knee, it's poking into my sides!" Chenle exclaims. </p><p>"Guys shut up!" Jeno whisper shouts. </p><p>Mark, who is the master of ignoring the things coming out of his friend's mouths, watches the guard closely. "We need to distract him, move him away from the area so we can duck under the caution tape right beside him." He turns around and faces his friends. "What" he asks, noticing the looks on their faces.</p><p>"We need a detailed plan, more then just "duck under the tape." This is the abandoned area we're talking about!" Donghyuck answers.</p><p>"Yeah, like how the heck are we going to find that wolf? Use Jeno's super whistle?" Renjun says after.</p><p>"Ok shush!" Mark says. He looks back at the guard to see if he heard. The guard didn't. "We don't know what's lurking behind those borders. We can't plan if we don't even know what we're planning against. We are just going to look for the wolf and leave. No fighting. If we see a spirit, we run out and try again deal?" </p><p>The rest of the group stares at Mark. "That's a terrible plan" Donghyuck says. Mark groans out of frustration and looks back at the guard again. Chenle looks around the area he's in and notices a small purple flower growing in the crack of the sidewalk. "Hey" he whispers. "I've seen that in Taeil hyung's shop! What is it?" Renjun shushes Chenle for speaking so loudly and looks at the flower. He shares a knowing glance with Donghyuck. </p><p>"Sleep time" they whisper in unison. </p><p>Renjun crawls up to the flower as quietly as he can and picks it out of the crack. In the meantime, Donghyuck grabs a spirit ball from Mark's belt and puts water into it. "What are you doing?" Jeno asks. "Sleep potion, Mr. Guard is going to say night night" Renjun says with a smile. He takes the spirit ball filled with water and stuffs the flower in. Renjun then shakes it, making the water turn dark purple with bits of shine. "Will that work?" Mark asks. Renjun nods. "Sleep potions are really easy to make when you find the right flowers. It so happened that luck is on our side today." Donghyuck takes the spirit ball and looks at the guard. He takes a deep breath and starts walking towards him. "Wait, shouldn't we throw it from here or something??" Jisung asks with great concern. </p><p>"Donghyuck knows what he's doing don't worry..." Mark says. Jisung breathes a relieved sigh. "..I hope." Renjun shushes the two and beckons them to watch. From afar, Donghyuck had come up to the guard, hiding the spirit ball behind his back. He doesn't seem to be doing anything, except for looking at the guard and smiling. Then out of nowhere, Donghyuck hits the guard on the head with the spirit ball and pours the potion all over his head. "Renjun, how long does that potion take affect?" Mark asks. Renjun looks back at the crack the purple flower was living in and thinks. "Hmmm, a couple of seconds" he replies. "Ayyy, there's no way a little flower like that is going to be able to knock someone out in a couple of seconds" Jeno says. </p><p>They watch the guard try to chase Donghyuck, before falling straight to the ground. "Huh, well I'll be darn" Jeno says with surprise. "Come on!" Mark says in a louder tone. The boys get up and meet Donghyuck at the entrance. "Great job Hyuckie" Mark says and hugs the merman. "Thank you, now for the hard part" Donghyuck says. Renjun looks at the buildings looming over him. The same white and ghost like buildings he had seen the other day.</p><p>"Yup, the hard part." </p><p>.</p><p>Immediately after the group steps foot into the space, Renjun wants to go home. He dislikes the quiet and eerie atmosphere of the place, and would rather stay back at the dorm and play with Pangxie. </p><p>"This place is so scary, how can Flameio live here?" Donghyuck shudders. "Flameo?" Jeno asks. Donghyuck turns to Jeno and nods. "Renjun's fire spirit friend; Flameio." Renjun rolls his eyes and keeps looking forward. "Please for the love of god don't call it Flameio, that's the cringiest name ever." Donghyuck in response, stick his tongue at the human. "You got any other ideas?"</p><p>The group continues to walk around the town (with the occasional bickering between Renjun and Donghyuck, which is then stopped by a dead stare by Mark or Jeno), looking at the buildings and streets for the wolf. Renjun sighs and looks down at his bracelet. "I really hope he's not hurt anywhere" he thinks. He looks up and notices a familiar Hanja character on the wall. </p><p>Renjun stops in his tracks. </p><p>The character meaning "poison" sat on the wall in purple spray paint. "Wait a minute" The human spins around and notices that the character was splattered on every wall of every building around them. All them were the same color, and was made from the same material. Renjun looks down at his bracelet. It was glowing dark purple. </p><p>"Guys!" Renjun calls out in a startled tone. </p><p>It was too late. A ice spirit whips past by Renjun's head at a fast speed. The rest of the group stops in their tracks and look at the giant and sharp ice spirit in horror. "RUN!" Jeno shouts. </p><p>The ice spirit begins shooting ice shards at the group making them split in half. Jeno, Mark, and Chenle end up going in one way while Renjun, Donghyuck, and Jisung go the other. </p><p>Noticing that the group is not a whole anymore, the spirit eyes both of the paths that the groups took and decide to follow Jeno's half. </p><p>.</p><p>"Over here!" Jeno yells. He gets behind a broken wall, Mark and Chenle joining him, and hides. "This is scaryyy!!" Chenle whines. "No kidding" Mark says, panting from running away. After catching his breath, Jeno takes a look around where they were. A two story building stood in front of him with broken windows, glass still hanging from where it once stayed with the paint chipping off of the walls. The wall he is hiding currently was probably part of a fence or barrier of some kind before it was broken down by force. "Where did the others go??" Chenle asks, looking around. </p><p>"We separated from them, when we were running away" Jeno says, peeking out from the wall. "We gotta meet up with them fast, this isn't the environment to be separated in." Mark says. As he says that, Jeno jumps towards the two story building to avoid a ice shard from hitting him. The ice spirit has found them. </p><p>"GO THAT WAY!!" Mark yells. The trio starts to run away from the spirit towards another direction. While they are running, they managed to dodge each and every spike that comes towards them, though they were really close to being hit. </p><p>Chenle stops running and raises a wall from the ground to block the spirit's shards. He takes creates a shard from the ground and prepares to throw it. "Chenle remember! Don't kill it!" Jeno yells. Chenle nods and throws the shard towards the spirit. It misses but turns into a stream of rocks then goes through the spirit's body. It gets startled and flies away. "Woo! Go Chenle!" Mark cheers. The leprechaun laughs sheepishly and drops the rocks. From a far, Jeno hears a rustle from the other side. He turns and sees a certain face staring back at them. </p><p>It was the light brown wolf. </p><p>Noticing that Jeno sees him, the wolf walks away. Jeno beckons for Mark and Chenle to come with him and follow the wolf. As silent as they can be, they watch the wolf from afar. It would go around and look at different buildings then move along to another area. "What's it doing?" Jeno thinks. The three follow it further before Jeno stops in his tracks. "Wait a minute" he whispers. "What?" Mark asks. </p><p>Jeno observes the wolf. He waits for it to move. It turns its head and freezes. "Gotcha" he thinks. The wolf turns back around and keeps walking. "Aren't we gonna follow it?" Chenle asks. Jeno shakes his head. "It knows we're following him" Jeno says. Mark and Chenle share glances. "How do you know?" Jeno presses his lips together. He just.. knows. It's a familiar tactic that's used by someone, but he can't really think who. </p><p>Ah now he remembers. </p><p>"Cause Jaemin would always do the same thing whenever we were playing games when we were younger. He would act clueless and lead me to believe that I'm following him without him knowing." The wolf stops in its tracks and sits on the side walk it was walking on. "Are you saying that's Jaemin?" Mark asks. Jeno doesn't answer. He wants to say yes, but he knows the other is a vampire so it can't be. </p><p>"I'm not sure" he answers instead. "Well, let's not follow it for now and just find the others" Mark says. Suddenly, Chenle gets up from their hiding spot and walks over to the wolf. "Chenle what are you doing???" Mark whispers. The younger doesn't answer and crouches down next to the wolf. The creature notices his presence and looks up at him. "Hello" Chenle greets. The wolf doesn't answer and only stares at him. Chenle looks at his hyungs and tells them to come. Though they hesitated at first, Mark and Jeno would come out from behind the wall they were hiding behind and approach the wolf. "He's really peaceful" Chenle says. The wolf shifts his attention from Chenle to the two boys standing in front of him. He looks at Mark then at Jeno. Though once he makes eye contact with Jeno, he immediately looks away.  </p><p>"Interesting" Jeno thinks. "We need to find our friends before we leave, wanna help us? Moon Taeil said we need to get you out of here anyway" Chenle says. "Yeah, the faster we find our friends and get you, the faster we leave this place" Mark says. The wolf doesn't do anything and looks at another direction, as if it's thinking. </p><p>"The faster we get out, the faster Renjun is out as well." </p><p>There, the ears of the wolf perks up. It whips its head at Jeno, its eyes more serious. "Come on, we should find the rest quickly and take you back to Moon Taeil." The wolf nods and gets up. "Yayy! We found the wolf!" Chenle cheers. His happy expression falls. "But we need to make sure our friends are ok." </p><p>.</p><p>"Where are we?" Jisung asks. Renjun looks around the buildings and scans each wall. There were no more characters on the walls so that's good. He looks down at his bracelet. No more glow, it's back to normal. "This place is huge" Donghyuck says. "Our textbooks said this place really small, but boy were they wrong." </p><p>So far, nothing was coming out to attack them. The main objective on their minds is to find the other half of the group and the wolf, then get out of this place as quickly as they can. Though, there is a part of their thoughts that warn them to be careful of any spirit lurking by. </p><p>Or in this case, any person lurking by. </p><p>"I feel like we've been walking around in circles" Renjun sighs. Each building was different, but in a way the same. The same color, same amount of paint chipping off of the wall, same amount of uneasiness. The road doesn't help either as it just twists and turns around each corner leading the three to some area they've seen before, but never visited. "Do you think Flameio might be around here to help us?" Jisung asks. Renjun rolls his eyes and turns to Jisung. "Really, you too?" Jisung shrugs. "We don't have anything else to call it." Donghyuck gives Renjun a smug smile and looks around the area they were in. Nothing was out of the ordinary, just buildings after buildings. There isn't even a sign of nature or life here either, which makes Renjun shiver. </p><p>Suddenly, Renjun's bracelet starts to glow. The boys perk up and look around for any signs of danger. "Where is it coming from?" Donghyuck asks. Renjun holds his wrist up and uses his bracelet as a compass. It gets darker when it he stops and points it towards a certain direction. "Over there" he says. "Which mean we gotta go that way" Renjun points towards the opposite direction, Jisung and Donghyuck nod, and they all quickly walk away from the other end of the street. </p><p>As they are walking, Renjun's bracelet starts to glow stronger. "Where do we go?!" Donghyuck shouts. Renjun stops and points the bracelet. It doesn't change color, nor does it change its intensity. "Shit, I think we're in a bad area." Right as Renjun talks, a fire spirit flies right by them and blocks them with a line of fire. Donghyuck puts it out with a stream of water. "Let's just run then!" he shouts and points to certain direction. The fire spirit notices their leave and follows the boys, constantly throwing fire balls at them. They stop when they had reached a large wall. It was a dead end. </p><p>Jisung taps his hyungs on the shoulder and points to a three story building that stood right next to them. As fast as they can, they rush into the building while avoiding the fire balls being thrown at them. They go up a flight of stairs to the third floor and hide in a large room at the end of the hallway. "When Taeil hyung gives us another mission, I'm turning it down. I don't care if he's a fucking dragon, fae, or even god himself" Donghyuck pants. Renjun's bracelet grows darker. He takes a peek from behind the wall and notices the fire spirit, floating through the hallway. "Ok, what are the chances of us getting hurt if we jump out of that window?" he whispers. </p><p>"Jisung, can you make a bed of snow for us to fall on?" Renjun asks. Jisung shakes his head. "Snow is way too advanced, and requires calamity. Plus, I don't think I can make one right now since I'm so scared." Renjun takes another peek out of the wall. The fire spirit stopped in front of the room. It waits for a few seconds then blows fire into the room.</p><p>Renjun's blood runs cold. He starts to sweat. His breathing becomes much faster.</p><p>He snaps out of his trance when Donghyuck puts a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry we got you" he whispers. He tells Renjun to switch places with him and looks out from behind the wall. "Ok, it looks like its going into each room and setting it on fire. Jisung when I say so, go ahead and make a ice wall to block the fire from going into the room, as thick as you can." The fae bites his lip. "You can do it Sung, we believe in you. Just find your happy place-" </p><p>The spirit blows fire two rooms down. </p><p> "-just find your happy place and you'll be fine. Renjun create a bubble around us and release Jisung when it's time." Renjun nods and takes a deep breath. "Calm down, it's ok. It's ok, it's ok, it's ok, it's ok." Renjun successfully creates a bubble, but it is a bit weaker then the ones he had made before. "It's good enough" Donghyuck says with a small smile. The fire spirit blows fire in the room next to theirs. "Ok release Jisung." Renjun makes a hole for Jisung to get through. The younger gets out and scurries to the wall on the other side of them. He and Donghyuck share a glance before looking out the doorway. </p><p>The merman puts up a 3. </p><p>then a 2. </p><p>1</p><p>Jisung creates a ice wall, and successfully blocks the fire spirit's blow. "You did it!" Donghyuck cheers. But the wall was too thin and melted immediately. "Hole, hole!" Renjun makes a hole in his bubble and lets Donghyuck out. The latter points to the corner of the room and tells Renjun to stay over there. Renjun hesitates. "There's no materials here for you to fight with!" Donghyuck whispers. The human presses his lips together. That's true, but he doesn't want to just helplessly stay in the corner of the room. </p><p>A fire ball comes flying towards Jisung. The boy manages to dodge it. He blocks the fire balls with his own ice shots. "Don't kill it!" Donghyuck shouts. Realizing the fire balls don't work, the fire spirit creates a fire border around Jisung. It spins in a circle and launches mini fire bullets towards the fae, knowing he doesn't have space to dodge them. Donghyuck notices this and puts out the fire with a water stream while Jisung hops out and shoots the spirit from the side. It hits it, but luckily not right at its core. </p><p>Renjun clenches his fists. "I want to help, I want to help, I want to help, I want to-" From the corner of his eye, Renjun notices a white spike whip past the window of the room. With caution, Renjun crawls from the corner of the room to the nearest window and takes a peak. He pops his bubble and jumps back when a ice spike flies into the room. "We got another visitor!" Renjun shouts. Jisung and Donghyuck turn their head and get shocked by a ice spirit, this one looking more spiked and frozen, flying into the room. The spirit shoots ice spikes at Renjun, while he dodges. He puts himself into a bubble and tries to run into the spirit to knock it over, missing it and almost stepping into some fire. </p><p>He turns around. The spirit was floating at the top of the room. It sticks to the ceiling and moves like a fast slug towards Renjun then drops on him as a giant spike. The human moves out of the way in time, and watch the spike strike into the floor then turn back into its original form. "Woah" Renjun says. </p><p>Meanwhile, the fire spirit had sectioned half of the room to its fight with Jisung and Donghyuck by creating a fire border in the middle of the room. While Jisung shoots ice at it, Donghyuck tries to take out the fires with streams of water. "This isn't working! It's not getting any weaker!" Jisung shouts. The fire spirit takes its attention off of Jisung for a while and shoots a fire ball at Donghyuck. The merman jumps out of the way and almost goes head first into the fire border. As he was falling, the shaman bells slipped out from the loop of his pants and onto the floor. Donghyuck looks at the bells then at the spirit. "Well here goes nothing!" he thinks. He grabs the bells and takes a deep breath. He rings the bells to get the spirit's attention. "Hey! Over here! Look at the shiny bells I have in my hand!" The fire spirit turns to Donghyuck. The merman smiles then gets ready to launch the bells, just as Taeil had done in the garden. </p><p>"TAKE THAT!" </p><p>The bells fly off of the handle and go through the spirit's body, but pathetically drop to the floor. Shocked, Donghyuck looks at the handle in his hand then at the bells on the floor. "Well shiet." The bells did go through the fire spirit's core though, which hurt and angers the spirit enough to burst into flames. Donghyuck and Jisung share glances and quickly get ready to get away from the spirit. Donghyuck retrieves the bells using a thin water stream to guide them back to the handle ("they stick to the handle like magnets" he notes) and puts out a part of the fire border for him and Jisung to get out of. "UM WHAT ARE YOU DOING??" Renjun shouts. He looks up and notices a ice shard coming towards him. He catches it using a shield and uses his telepathy to throw it back to the spirit. </p><p>"SHARING IS CARING HUANG, LET'S SHARE THE ROOM YA?" Donghyuck shouts. He shoots the fire spirit with a blast of water to weaken it, then takes Renjun's and Jisung's hands. "LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" he yells and guides them to the exit of the room. However they are blocked by a fire ball which creates a fire in the exit. "Crap!" Jisung yells. The three turn around and see both spirits slowly coming up to them. "Ok, since I used my thing I think it's time for you to use yours" Donghyuck says. "Oh don't tell me" Jisung says. Renjun and Donghyuck give him a scolding glare. The youngest groans and takes out a ice bomb from the leather strap hanging on his belt loop. He eyes the left side of the room and runs towards it. Renjun runs towards the other side while Donghyuck puts out the fire at the doorway.</p><p>The fire spirit follows Jisung while the ice spirit follows Renjun. Jisung runs to the wall and lures the spirit to come near him. Then once it's close, Jisung runs towards Renjun's side of the room and throws a ice bomb in the air and slices it with a ice stream. The bomb pops open and not only freezes the spirit but also the whole  room. The fire spirit stays frozen to the wall. The ice spirit stays frozen against the ceiling. The boy's feet get frozen to the ground. "Great job genius!" Donghyuck yells. He tries to balance himself but ends up bending over, his hands on the cold icy floor. "Sorry!" Jisung says. He starts to retract the ice, but it has a little effect on the ice around his feet. "Uh oh" he says. "We're gonna die" Renjun says. </p><p>"Flameio!" Donghyuck greets. Renjun and Jisung turn and see..."Flameio"... floating at the doorway, looking shocked at the sight before it. "Long story, can you help us?" Renjun says. Flameo nods and starts to melt the ice around the boy's feet at a fast rate. However, as the ice around their feet start to melt, the ice capturing the fire and ice spirit start to melt as well. "Let's go! Quickly!" Renjun yells. Flameio gestures for the boys to follow it.</p><p>It leads them out of the building and into the street, as far away from it as possible. "Thank you" Renjun says in a soft tone. Flameio bows and uses its tail to point at the both of them. "Ah yes, since I saved your life and you saved mine I guess we're even" the human laughs. Flameio turns into a bright orange color and shakes as if it's laughing. "Wow, never seen a spirit laugh before" Donghyuck says in awe. The group stops walking. Renjun turns to the spirit, now with a more serious expression. "Moon Taeil the Guardian of the Stream, has ordered us to retrieve a light brown wolf from this area and bring him to him. We got separated from our friends and we need to find them. Will you help us?" Flameo nods, its color now less bright and more of a serious looking red. "Great! Thanks Flameio!" Donghyuck says, Jisung giving the spirit a thumbs up and a smile. Flameio tilts its head. "Yeah maybe on the way, we should give you a new name" Renjun laughs. </p><p>.</p><p>"Guys!" </p><p>Jeno, Chenle, and Mark turn around to the call. "Jaemin hyung!" Chenle greets. They watch as Jaemin runs up to them. "What are you doing here? And how did you know where we were?" Mark asks. Jaemin takes a second to get his breath then straightens up. "I was told by Taeil hyung that you guys are here, so I just came here." the vampire explains. Jeno raises an eyebrow. "How did you get in?" </p><p>"I snuck behind the guard behind a building" Jaemin replies. Chenle gives Jaemin a hug and and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Great! Now we all can find the others together!" Chenle exclaims. Mark smiles. "Yup! We can find them with you and this wo-" Mark gives double take and looks around. "Uh, where did the wolf go?" he asks. Chenle looks around. "What? Where did he go? He was walking right next to us!" </p><p>Jeno doesn't say anything and only stares at Jaemin. The latter was look back at him. His face held a confused expression, but his eyes says something else. The wolf sighs and turns around. "I'm sure we can find him later, right now let's just focus on finding the others" he says, and starts walking. Mark and Chenle look at each other and start walking. "Jaemin come on!" Mark calls out. Jaemin nods and follows the group. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun sighs for the third time. "Donghyuck, I think you're stressing out our friend here." Donghyuck stops talking and puts both hands on his hips. "What you mean? We're just discussing what names we can give Flameio!" The human turns around and looks at the Flameio. The spirit is looking pretty confused, yet a bit amused from its conversation with Donghyuck. </p><p>"I don't think Flameio wants to be called Flame Fury or the Burning Flame hyung" Jisung deadpans. Donghyuck hits the younger on the shoulder. "You come up with the name then!" Renjun rolls his eyes and smiles. He feels somewhat relaxed now even after his near death experience (then again, hunting these spirits down is a near death experience some times). </p><p>The four would walk around for a bit before ultimately stopping at the area where the group as a whole got separated. Renjun stops and turns to Flameo. "Can you fly up and try see where they are?" he asks. Flameo shake its head. "The area is too foggy to view from the sky" Jisung explains. Renjun looks at the buildings. There it is again; "poison." It's splattered all over the walls. "This is where the Dok Zuzhi are" Renjun says. Donghyuck and Jisung share glances. "How are you sure?" Donghyuck asks. The human points to the big character on the wall. "Because of that."  Flameio looks to where Renjun is pointing at and turns into a pale yellow. It motions for the boys to follow it, and turns the other direction. "Good call Flameio" Donghyuck calls out and runs to catch up with the spirit.</p><p>In the middle of walking, Renjun notices that his shoelaces were untied. "Guys wait! My shoelaces are untied!" he calls out, then kneels down to tie them. Once he gets up, Renjun jumps back. Suddenly, his surroundings was covered in thick fog. He could no longer see his friends or Flameio, or the tall buildings around him. "Guys? Donghyuck? Jisung? Flameio?" Renjun shouts. Instead of a call back, a ice shard shoots into the fog, causing the human to jump out of the way and onto the floor. "Shit" he whispers under his breath. Another shard comes flying towards him. Renjun gets up and runs, not caring which way he's going.  As long as he's away from any harm it's fine.</p><p>The problem with that plan though, is that Renjun can't see. He would bump into a wall of building then another when trying to go to another direction. "Where am I?" he thinks. He turns around. The shards stopped coming towards him a long time ago. Renjun squints into the fog, looking for any type of white and light blue glow coming towards him or perhaps, a person with an ice weapon. "Hello? Anyone there?" he calls out. "I'd appreciate it if you just left me and my friends alone!.. And possibly lift this fog so I can go home??" </p><p>Nothing was answering him. Renjun sighs and takes out his phone to call the others. "Dang it, there's no service here" Renjun grumbles in Chinese. He puts it back into his pocket and looks around. The only thing he can see is the wall in front of him, which he assumes is part of a large building. The human places his hand on the wall and uses it as a guide to see where he's going. </p><p>Renjun bumps into an open gate after walking along the wall and narrows his eyes to the inside area behind the gate. It was still blurry to him, but nonetheless he walks in. The gate door makes a low creaking sound. Rust had engulfed the metal door as a result for not being used for so long, making the door barely movable. Renjun tries to close the door, but the little gate doesn't budge. "I wonder how old this estate is" he thinks. He walks further after walking through the gate and comes out of the fog. </p><p>In front of him was a dead tree and a old swing set. He turns and sees a old Korean house. By looking at how big it is, the people who used to live there must've been rich and well off. The roof had a typical Korean style tiling, and the floors of the house was raised by a platform. The only strange thing about the house is that it seemed to have two floors, making it a little taller then it's counterparts in Seoul or in the other parts of District U. "Huh" Renjun thinks. He never seen this house in his textbooks, and wonders why. If this was a rich person living in a tall building, then this would be great information for a typical Neo University textbook (considering the many strange things Renjun and seen in his $900 textbook). </p><p>The human walks around the front yard of the house, looking at all of the dead plants that seems to be part of a former garden. "It must've been so pretty" Renjun thinks. He eyes the single swing hanging from its bar and frowns. "That must mean children used to live here." The human shakes the sad thought out of his mind and looks at the house in front of him. Up close, the sliding doors were surprisingly in good shape. The paper windows had no holes, and the doors were still in tact with the rest of the house. He looks down at the stairs and platform. One part of the platform was broken, but it was at the end of the floor so Renjun didn't think about it too much.</p><p>He walks up the little stairs onto the platform and holds his hand up to open the door. Renjun gasps upon noticing the blackness of the beads on his bracelet. It was vibrating against his wrist, humming more so when he brings it closer to the door. "Fuck, I'm in a dangerous area" he thinks. But why didn't he notice before? If it was vibrating strongly like this he should've noticed and went another way. </p><p>There's not time to question things though. This area is not to be messed with so if the bracelet glows, Renjun needs to get out of the area he's in fast. Quickly, he climbs down the stairs and heads towards the gate he come from. He's stopped by a ice shard thrown at him. Out from the fog comes out a ice spirit. This one was not the same one from before and is even more bigger and spikier then the other one. </p><p>However, this one didn't seem to be a normal ice spirit. </p><p>"GAH!" Renjun exclaims as he dodges another ice shard. He looks at the sharp ice stick that was thrown at him then at the perpetrator who attacked him. The human notices little crackles of blue lightning coming out of the spirit's body and the shard it had thrown. "What the heck?" Renjun says out loud. The spirit didn't care what Renjun thought of its appearance and continues to attack him. This time though, instead of a shard came out a lightning bolt that froze the grass of the yard. </p><p>Renjun's eyes grew wide. He looks up at the spirit and dodges another bolt. Noticing he had no where else to run, he goes back up the stairs of the house as fast as he could and opens the door, ignoring the violent hum of his bracelet. The spirit instantaneously comes after him, making the human run through the twisted hallways of rooms. "What the hell is this place??" he shouts out loud and turns a sharp left up the stairs to the second floor. Renjun manages to lose the spirit by going into a room and hiding behind an old shelf. He watches the spirit's shadow fly through the hallway, looking for the human. </p><p>It suddenly stops when a whistle is heard from a far. The shadow of the spirit quickly flies out, forgetting about its target in the building. Renjun waits for a few seconds then decides it's clear. Quietly, he starts to crawl to the door of the room and opens it a little. He looks through the crack. Nothing from his field of vision is there. Renjun lets out a small cough and gets up from the floor. The human opens up the door fully and looks around with caution. Renjun coughs again, and walks out of the room. "Where's the stairs?" he asks himself in Chinese. </p><p>The floor was bigger then Renjun had expected. "I swear to god the staircase was around here somewhere" he says. He lets out a another set of coughs, this time it being more extreme. Suddenly, Renjun starts to feel lightheaded and dizzy. The room around him starts to spin. He blinks in and out of consciousness. He goes back to the room he was hiding in and falls to the ground on his hands and knees. The coughing becomes worse. His vision starts to turn more blurry. "Shit, I think I'm in a poisonous gas zone" he thinks. He coughs more violently when out of the blue the whole room is engulfed in flames. </p><p>Panicked, Renjun tries to bring out his shield to protect himself from the fire of the room. But the shield doesn't come out. Now he isn't coughing. Now, his breathing has become much faster, along with his heart beat. Beads of sweat fall from Renjun's forehead. His body starts to shake out of fear. </p><p>Renjun grips the grass of the floor and starts wheezing. Around him was trees that were set on fire, several animals that lay dead on the forest floor, being engulfed by flames then left burnt black and crisp. "No, No, NO, NO, NO" Renjun starts to yell. He tries to move, but can't. He had become paralyzed. His widen eyes are forced to watch everything burn and die in front of him. Tears start to rush out from his sockets as he sees a bird get defeated by a flame and fall to the ground. </p><p>Coming out from the trees was a big fire spirit. It's flames were gigantic, it's body was gigantic. It stares at Renjun from afar then starts rushing towards him at a fast speed. The human starts to scream, tears falling in big bits from his eyes. "STOP, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!" he screams. He squeezes his eyes shut and turns his head away from the spirit. His hands grip onto the burning grass around him tightly, to the point of ripping them out from the ground. </p><p>Then, everything went silent. </p><p>All that was heard was the sound of Renjun breathing and wheezing heavily. He opens his eyes and slowly turns his head towards the front. The forest was no longer on fire. There were no flaming trees, no burnt up animals on the ground, and no spirit coming to get him. Renjun looks up at the sky and sees the moon. It shined bright towards Renjun as if it was telling him "it's ok, you are now safe. You are now away from danger." He slowly brings his head down and tries to calm himself, his eyes closed.</p><p>"You're safe, you're safe, you're safe." </p><p>Renjun opens his eyes. A little boy was sitting cross legged in front of him. He adorned dark black hair, a simple white tee, dark green shorts, and red shoes. His eye brows were knitted together and his eyes shined under the moonlight. </p><p>"Why are you crying?" </p><p>Renjun doesn't answer, focusing on slowing his breathing down. He stares at the boy in front of him, no thoughts and no words coming to his brain. </p><p>"Please don't cry. You're sad when you cry." </p><p>The human laughs. "Well yes, that's what most people do when they're sad right? They cry." The little boy deepens his frown. "I don't like it when you're sad. I like it when you're happy." The boy crawls closer to Renjun and sits on his lap. He looks up at the older's face, the frown still being worn by his own. "When you're happy you smile. I like your smile, it's pretty. It makes me smile." Renjun tilts his head. "Really?" he asks. The boy nods. He takes his hands up to Renjun's face and starts to pat away the tears that came out from his eyes. </p><p>"So that's why-" </p><p>His little hands gently wipe away the last of Renjun's tears.</p><p>"-you shouldn't be sad. Because I'm here. I won't leave you." The little boy smiles. "I'm here when you need me the most." The human stares at the little boy's face. Something about him made him calm, protected. His head is clear of any worry and doubt, and is much more relaxed. </p><p>"You.. sure you won't leave me?" Renjun asks quietly. The little boy nods, his smile brightening. "Of course not, I'm right here Renjun." Renjun hugs the little boy and sighs. He buries his head in the crook of his neck and closes his eyes. Arms come around Renjun's body. A hand comes up to his head and starts to caress him. </p><p>"Don't worry, I'm right here" Jaemin says. </p><p>"I'm here for you"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>As you can see, Renjun's arc is a bit long</p><p>In fact, we are not even close to being done, we are halfway through, hehe.</p><p>Anyways, as you were reading this you may have seen some terms that may be unfamiliar. I wanted to incorporate some Korean mythology into this story, so some of the references in this may be a bit confusing: </p><p>Son O Gong, Haneullim, and Samjang: These three figures are part of the spirit world in Korean mythology (it's not actually called spirit world in Korean, but I don't know what the exact name is so I just called it that). Son O Gong and Samjang are figures borrowed from Chinese mythology. Son O Gong is a mischievous monkey god, who has a headband around his head controlled by Samjang, a monk who can squeeze Son O Gong's head with the headband if he's acting out of hand. Haneullim, is the main god, sort of like the Zeus in Korean mythology. </p><p>Hanja and DokZuZhi: Hanja are pretty much just Chinese characters, but with Korean pronunciation.  Before Hangul, the Korean people had used Chinese characters to read and write. However, since it was a bit hard to learn (and as a person who is learning Chinese currently, it is) King Sejeong had created the Hangul system for those who are not able learn the Chinese characters. </p><p>So the characters of the DokZuZhi, are Hanja and Chinese characters, and can be translated as "poisonous organization" "Dok" means poision in Korean, and "Zuzhi" means organization in Chinese. </p><p>If you want to learn more about Korean mythology and do not want to read about it like me, here are some dramas that you can watch to gain a little more background knowledge to them ^^ I'm sure you guys have heard of them before: </p><p>- Hotel Del Luna <br/>- Mystic Pop Up Bar <br/>- Korean Oddessy </p><p>Hope that cleared some things up! Thank you guys for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0031"><h2>31. Nana</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>When Injun met Nana in the forest</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yo~</p><p>Thank you y'all for coming back! This is a POV chapter, but it is very important to read so don't skip it or else you will be VERY confused.</p><p>VERY<br/>VERY<br/>VERY<br/>Confused </p><p>From all of the theories I have gotten, it seems that most of you won't be surprised on what goes on in this chapter (I have failed to make it suspenseful; sad), but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Renjun looks excitedly out the window of his family's rental car and looks at all of the different buildings that they whizz pass by. This is his first ever vacation and his first time in Korea. "Are you that excited Renjun?" his dad laughs, keeping his eyes on the road. "Yup!" Renjun says. Sicheng pulls his shirt to make him sit back down in his seat. "Stop doing that, you're going to get hurt" he says. The younger sticks his tongue out at his brother as a response then looks away and pouts. "Now, now, Sicheng is just trying to look out for you" their mother says in a gentle tone. </p><p>"I know" the youngest replies. The rest of the car ride went as any normal family trip. The Huang-Dongs came to Korea for a fun vacation. First, they had stayed at a family friend's house in Seoul. Now, they are going to go camping in a forest around Gwacheon as it's been on the family's bucket list for a while. Renjun looks down at his Moomin doll and smiles. "We're going camping Moomin! We're going camping!" Sicheng taps on Renjun's shoulder. He turns around towards his older brother who gives him a shush sign. He digs into one of the bags of on the ground near their feet and brings out a circle tin out. Renjun's eyes widen with delight as soon as he sees the mascot of one of his new favorite candies. "What are you two doing back there?" their dad asks. "Nothing!" they answer in unison, and quickly open the tin can for a piece. "Aiya! I thought I told you guys not to bring the candy tin!" Their mother scolds them. Renjun's dad laughs. "Let them eat it, they're going to complain of the lack of sugar if we didn't allow them." </p><p>They soon arrive at the campsite. Once they parked their car, the family takes out their equipment and heads for a good spot to set up their camp. "Go ahead and play around, but don't go into the forest!" Renjun's father says. Renjun and Sicheng share a excited glance, then answer their dad. "OK!" they say in unison. </p><p>The campground the Huang-Dong family was using, wasn't really a traditional one. Other families were within the vicinity of Renjun 's and Sicheng's. The zoo and a amusement park was a couple miles away and there was a random snack bar within the park. "Why do you look so sad?" Sicheng says playing with a ball in his hand. Renjun snaps out his trance and turns to his brother. "Huh? I'm not sad" His brother frowns. "You look sad. We're finally camping like you wanted, so I thought you'd be more happy." To be honest, since they're not really roughing it, Renjun does feel a little disappointed. He really wanted to see the streams and different flowers he heard from his family's friend. "I'm happy" he says after a while. He takes the ball out from Sicheng's hands and starts to run. "Hey! We're supposed to play with that together!" he yells. "Then catch me if you can!" Renjun yells back in a taunting tone. </p><p>The two brothers ran around the campground, avoiding different people and tents as they went. They didn't have a designated place to run to, as they were just playing a mindless game of chase. So when Sicheng finally catches up to his little brother, and sees him staring at the border of the mountain's forests and the campground, he got caught off guard. "You run too fast" he complains as he walks up to Renjun. He takes the ball out of his hands and looks at the younger's face. Overall, Renjun looked spaced out, but there was a glint of awe in his eyes. Sicheng raises an eyebrow and looks at what Renjun was looking at. It was just a bunch of trees with a forest floor with sticks and dead leaves covering it. To Sicheng it was just a regular forest, but to Renjun, it was intriguing. "I want to camp in there!" Renjun says, pointing his finger into the forest. "What!? No way, this place looks creepy. Come on, mama and baba are waiting for us." Renjun pouts and takes one look at the forest before following his brother back to the camp. </p><p>.</p><p>The fire from the grill cooked the meat that was placed on the grate. Renjun and Sicheng looked at the pieces of meat eagerly, wanting to snatch it off of the grill with their chopsticks. "Ok, here you go kids" their mother laughs, putting three pieces each on their plates. The boys smile at the pieces of meat on their plates and begin to snarf them down. "This is really good!" Renjun exclaims. "Why of course it is! It's meat!" his dad jokes. Renjun scoops some rice from the hetbahn rice container on his lap and stuffs it into his mouth. "Awe baobei, you have some rice here" his mother coos. She takes a napkin and wipes off the piece of rice from Renjun's mouth. "Honey, he's a big boy! I'm sure he can clean his mouth himself" his dad says. "Yup! I'm a big boy mama! I can do it!" Renjun says after. His mother smiles gently and puts the napkin in a plastic bag that was reused as a trash bag. "Ok, I'll leave it to you to clean your mouth then." Renjun smiles brightly at his mother and grabs a few napkins and puts them in his lap. </p><p>Renjun and Sicheng had finished their meal before going out to play again. "Mama! Can we go play at the stream?" Renjun's mother stops cleaning and looks up at her son. "You can play tomorrow Renjun, it's night time now and I don't want you to catch a cold." Her son pouts, but doesn't argue with her further. "Ok, then what about picking some flowers? Can we do that too tomorrow?" Renjun's mother tilts her head. "Flowers? There's flowers here?" Renjun nods. "Junhui ge said we can pick flowers here!" he says with a hopeful smile. That smile drops when Renjun is answered with his mother's head shake. "There's no flowers to pick here, I'm sorry." </p><p>Well then, maybe there's a third option.</p><p>"What about the forest? Can we go into the forest?" Renjun's dad comes back from cleaning the grill, laughing. "You really seem to like the nature here huh kiddo?" Renjun nods. He's always been fascinated by plants and nature. Most of the books he has in his little bookshelf at home are about different flowers and trees. The main reason as to why he was so excited for the camping trip was because he wanted to play within the mountains and forests. </p><p>His mother smiles sadly, and caresses his shoulder. "Sorry baobei, you can't go into the forest it's not allowed. I promise you will get to play in the stream tomorrow don't worry." Renjun nods slowly. "Ok.." he says quietly. "Go play with your brother, he's waiting for you at the snack bar" Renjun's dad says. Renjun nods again and starts running towards the snack bar. As he's running he looks to the right of him and sees the forest. He stops and stares at the big and dark trees looming over the field he is on. "Are there really flowers in there?" he wonders to himself. The forest looked so dark, that it seems impossible for any living thing that requires light to live to be in there. Renjun starts to walk closer before he hears his name being called. </p><p>"Renjun! Over here!" </p><p>Renjun turns his head. He smiles and runs over to his brother, who was waiting for him at the snack bar. "Look! Baba gave us money to buy something!" Sicheng says. He shows his little brother the crumpled up bills of won with some coins in his hand. "I'm full though" Renjun says. Sicheng pouts, then smiles. "Ok then! More food for me!" He turns around and looks up at the small menu of food. While he's waiting for his brother to get his snack, Renjun turns back to the forest and squints.</p><p>"What's in there?" he wonders.</p><p>"I want to see what's in there" he thinks.  </p><p>Sicheng thanks the worker at the snack bar and retrieves his dalgona. He taps on Renjun's shoulder to get his attention. When he does, he snaps off a piece and hands it to his brother. "Don't ask me for some later" he says. Renjun smiles sheepishly as he knows that what he does whenever he sees his brother with food. He takes it and follows his brother to sit on some stone steps near the snack bar. </p><p>"Gege, what's in there?" he asks Sicheng. Sicheng hums then looks at where his little brother was pointing at. "Trees? I don't know, I've never been in there." Unsatisfied with his answer, Renjun eats the last of his dalgona piece and gets up from the stone steps. "I want to go in there" he announces. Sicheng pulls him back down to the steps. "No, mama and baba said we can't go in there." </p><p>"What would happen if we went in there?" Renjun asks. </p><p>"The police is going to come in there and get you" Sicheng answers. </p><p>Oh, he doesn't want the police to get him, Renjun's mom told him that jail cells are very cold. He doesn't like the cold. Renjun let's out a defeated sigh and puts his head into his hands.</p><p>"When can we play?"</p><p>Sicheng shrugs his shoulders.</p><p>"Why did you get that?" </p><p>"Cause I wanted to" Sicheng replies.</p><p>"But why did you want it? You said you wanted to play." </p><p>"I still do." </p><p>"But why did you get that?" </p><p>"Because I wanted it." </p><p>At this point, a normal human being would be annoyed with this conversation. But the Huang-Dongs are already used to Renjun's inquisitive questions, since he asks so many. It's to the point where the whole family thinks that his favorite word is "why." </p><p>"I'm going to play by myself. Give me the ball." Sicheng hands him the ball and chews on his crunchy lolipop. Renjun doesn't know why Sicheng got such as big piece, but if he feels like if he asks, he's just going to get an answer he doesn't like. So, Renjun goes out into the middle of the field and starts throwing the ball into the air and catching it. Occasionally, he would glance at the forest then turn around. "I don't want to go to jail, it's too cold there" he reminds himself every time he sees the forest. Sooner or later, he stopped telling himself about how a jail cell is like a ice cream parlor (which honestly, made him hungry for ice cream) and stares at the forest. He looks back to where Sicheng is. He's finishing up the last of his candy, but isn't really watching his brother. He looks back at the forest and takes a deep breath. Renjun then starts walking towards the border of the forest. He stops right in front of the chain that has the sign saying "PLEASE DO NOT ENTER" on it. </p><p>The little one peeks into the forest space and searches for anything he may find interesting. From his radius, Renjun could only see the tall trees with black bark, leaves scattered around the ground, and little yellow flowers that sprouted in the limited amount of patches of grass. His head turns right to left, left to right. Then, Renjun spots something interesting. </p><p>A pink flower. </p><p>It seemed odd. The pink flower wasn't near where Renjun was, but it didn't seem that far away either. It stood by itself without any brethren on the forest flower, seemingly glowing in the moonlight. It's stem was dark green, and its petals were a nice shade of pink. Renjun stares at it, then gasps from what the flower did. </p><p>It moved. </p><p>It looked like it noticed Renjun staring at it. Tilting its head a little, it raises its little leaf from its stem and waves, like it's saying a hello. Eyes widening, Renjun slowly brings his hand up and waves back. When the flower received a greeting, it puts its leaf down and straightens itself back to its original position. Though, this time, the flower is staring at Renjun too.</p><p>Their stare breaks, when Renjun hears his mother calling for him. He turns around and sees his mother, father, and brother running up to him. "Renjun what are you doing! I told you not to go into the forest!" his mother scolds. She takes his hand and tugs it. "Come on it's time to go to sleep." Renjun doesn't say anything and walks with his family back to the camp. He takes one last glance at the forest. His eyes go straight to the flower. It waves a good bye with its leaf as it watches Renjun get further and further away. </p><p>Now, Renjun really wants to go into the forest. </p><p>Now, he's curious. </p><p>.</p><p>That night, Renjun couldn't get any sleep. All he thought about was the shining pink flower, the one that had greeted him when he saw it and when he went away. </p><p>He opens his eyes. It was quiet. The only thing that was heard was the cicadas playing their song, and the humming of the street lamps near their camps. Renjun was squeezed between his brother and his mother on the floor of their tent. He looks at them and checks if they are sleeping. Sicheng and his mother were unmoving, while his dad was snoring, a sign that he too was in deep sleep. </p><p>Slowly, Renjun rises from where he laid and looks around. There wasn't a lamp that he could take with him. He looks at Moomin. Renjun puts a finger on his mouth. "I'll be back Moomin, watch them for me" he whispers. The Moomin doll doesn't move, but Renjun likes to think he said ok anyway. Quietly and carefully, Renjun slips out of from between his brother and mother and opens the zipper of the tent cautiously. Then, he gets out and puts on his shoes and zips the tent back out. Renjun looks around for the last time for a lamp he could take with him, before giving up and running to the forest. </p><p>No one was out at this time. Not even the snack bar person. Renjun runs up to the sign he saw last time and peers into the other side of the chain. He tilts his head. "Where's the flower?" he thinks. He looks down at the chain and pokes it lightly. It didn't hurt him like those electric fences he saw in his cartoons, so he decides to cross over it. "I'm sorry mama. I'm sorry baba. I'm sorry Sicheng ge. Please bring me many blankets to me when I'm in jail." Renjun gets onto his knees and hands, then crawls under the chain into the forest.</p><p>Now that he's in, it's time to look for that flower. </p><p>.</p><p>From the outside, the forest looked very dark and grim. But when one goes in the forest, they can see that it's actually quite beautiful. Parts of the forest was brightened thanks to the moonlight, and the silence was less eerie, and more peaceful. </p><p>So when Renjun started to walk deeper into the forest, he did not feel frightened. He felt pretty calm. </p><p>The flower, the last time Renjun saw it, was near the entrance of the forest, but for some reason when Renjun came back it was gone. Renjun didn't complain much though, he liked looking at other flowers like the small yellow flowers on the ground and the pretty leaves that were on the floor. The trees were quite skinny, not like the wide ones Renjun had seen in his picture books. He didn't pick any flowers to take him though, he felt that if he did it would disrupt the peaceful atmosphere. </p><p>Renjun had soon decided to go back to the tent. He gets up from looking at a leaf and starts walking towards where he had came from. "I'm tired, I wonder if Moomin misses me" he thinks.</p><p>He walked</p><p>and walked</p><p>and walked,</p><p>but the entrance was no where to be found. </p><p>Renjun starts to panic. "Where is the outside?" he thinks. He looks around where he was. He was in a clear area surrounded by trees, with a river running by next to him. This place doesn't look familiar. Renjun bites his lip and looks around a bit more. There were exits around him, but he doesn't know which one to go through. "Mama?" he calls out. "Gege? Baba? Help!" he calls out even louder. Tears threaten to fall out from his eyes. He looks up at the sky and sees the moon. It's much bigger then before. "Help! Help!" he calls out. "Help! Someone help me!" He tries calling out for his parents in Chinese, then for someone else in Korean. Slowly, the little one starts to loose hope and realizes that he's stuck in this forest with no knowledge of getting out. </p><p>Defeated, Renjun sits on the forest floor and hugs his knees to his chest. "No Renjun! You're a big boy! Big boys don't cry!" he scolds himself. Alas, the tears don't listen and fall out. "I'm sorry m-mama! I'm s-sorry gege! I'm sorry bab-ba! I w-won't g-go into the forest a-again!!' Renjun yells out. He cries even harder, missing the warmth of his family and Moomin doll. "I want to go home!" </p><p>Suddenly, something is heard rustling near the trees by the river. Renjun stops yelling and looks around. He whimpers. "Hello?" The rustling sound starts again. Renjun sits still, his eyes glued to where the rustling sound came from. A moment of silence goes by before the rustling sound comes back up. It gets more and more aggressive. Then, a head pops out from a bush. A young wolf stares at Renjun from a far. Renjun doesn't move and holds his breath. "It's going to eat me" he thinks. The wolf doesn't do anything but stare at the little one. It then, goes back into the bush and comes out fully. </p><p>"It's coming to eat me. I'm going to die." </p><p>The young wolf starts to walk over to Renjun slowly. Renjun prepares for some sort of attack and hides his head on his knees, with his arms covering his head. He listens to the sound of the wolf's feet walking over to him. Then the sound stops. Renjun waits for a few seconds before lifting his head up from under his arms. He jumps back when he sees the wolf right in front of him. </p><p>"PLEASE DON'T EAT MEE!" he screams. </p><p>The wolf, who was honestly a bit concerned, sits still and tilts its head. Renjun takes a look at the wolf and freezes. They stare at each other some more before the wolf starts to turn into a boy around Renjun's age. He had messy dark brown hair and was adorning a white shirt with green shorts and red shoes. Renjun's eyes widen at the sight of this wolf turning into a human boy. </p><p>"Why are you crying?" the boy asks in Korean. </p><p>Renjun doesn't answer. First, this wolf turned into a little boy. Then it started speaking to him. It's a lot to handle in a few seconds while also being lost in a gigantic forest sometime around 3 in the morning. </p><p>"Why are you crying?" the boy asks again. Renjun gulps then gets into a criss cross position like the boy. He rubs his nose then answers in a weak voice as a result from crying and yelling. "I'm lost." </p><p>"You're lost?" the boy asks.</p><p>"Yes, I'm lost." </p><p>The boy tilts his head. "How did you get in here?" he asks. Renjun sniffs again and answers. "I went under the chains." The boy nods then puts his head back to its original position. "What is your name?" he asks. </p><p>"Huang Renjun" </p><p>"Hwang..huh?"</p><p>"Huang Renjun"</p><p>"Hwang Renan?"</p><p>"No, Huang Renjun" </p><p>"Hwang Renjan?"</p><p>"Huang Renjun"</p><p>"Hwang Renjeon?" </p><p>Tears start to come out of Renjun's eyes again. It startles the boy, making him wave his hands in panic. "No, no! I'm sorry! Please don't cry! I didn't mean to make you sad..." Renjun sniffs and wipes his tears from his cheeks. The boy starts to tap his finger and thinks. "Are you not from Korea?" he asks. Renjun shakes his head. "Oh! Where are you from?" he asks. "China" Renjun answers. The boy makes a O with his mouth. "Sorry, I can't speak Chinese." Renjun nods and thinks. "Then you can call me by my Korean name" he says. The boy's eyes widen. "What is it?" he asks. "Injun, Hwang Injun." The boy smiles upon hearing Renjun's other name. "Ok! I'll call you Injun! Is that ok?" Renjun nods. </p><p>A moment of awkward silence passes by. "I can help you find your parents, if you want" the boy says. Renjun lifts his head. "Really?" he asks. The boy nods. He stands up from the ground and lends a hand towards Renjun. "You came from the camp right? I know where that is!" Renjun nods again and accepts the boy's hand and stands up. "Thank you" he says. The boy gives Renjun a bright smile. "No problem! I'm Jaemin by the way!" </p><p>"Jaemin?" </p><p>"Mhm! Oh! If you want, since I'm calling you Injun you can call me Nana!" </p><p>Renjun stares at Jaemin's face for a bit. The boy had a big smile. It relaxed him, making him momentarily forget that he was lost. Renjun smiles back. "Ok, Nana." </p><p>.</p><p>Nana had easily led Renjun back to the campgrounds. The trip back was fun too, as Nana was making all sorts of jokes to make Renjun laugh. "Here it is!" Sooner or later, the chains that separated the campgrounds and the forest appeared. Renjun was happy, but also a bit disappointed that he has to leave so soon. He turns around and faces Nana. "Can I see you again tomorrow?" Nana tilts his head. "Why? I thought you didn't like it here?" he asks. Renjun bites his lip and looks down. "I..want to come back and play.." Nana stares at the shorter for a bit, then gives a small smile. "Ok, I'll meet you here so you don't get lost." Renjun looks up and smiles brightly. "Ok! I'll see you tomorrow Nana!" He climbs under the chain then turns around and waves good bye. Nana waves bye back, his big smile appearing on his face again. "See you!" Renjun yells out. He then starts to run back to his family's tent, Nana watching him from the forest. </p><p>When Renjun came back, his family was still sleeping. Quietly, like he left, Renjun opened the tent and zipped it back up. Then he squeezed in between his mother and brother and grabbed Moomin. "Thanks for watching them for me" he whispers. Renjun falls asleep after that, dreaming about a wolf and a pink flower. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun decided not to tell his parents or brother about his trip to the forest. He figured that if he did, he's going to get yelled at and won't have the chance to see Nana again. </p><p>He and his brother spent the day playing in the river with their dad watching them. Then at lunch, the family ate sandwiches Renjun's mother made back at their family friend's house. "And then, Renjun saw this big fish! It scared me though" Sicheng says, biting into his sandwich. His mother laughs at her eldest son's story. "What about you Renjun, were you scared?" Renjun shakes his head. "The fishie was cute!" Sicheng turns to Renjun and furrows his eyebrows. "That fish wasn't cute! It was big, grey, and ugly!" Renjun pouts and takes a bite of his sandwich. "No it isn't!" he says. "Renjun, don't eat with your mouth full, that isn't nice" his dad says. Renjun closes his mouth, chews his sandwich and swallows it. "Yeah, don't do that it's gross" Sicheng says, scrunching his nose. </p><p>The day later turns into evening. After everyone had fallen asleep, Renjun gets up and grabs two sandwiches from their family's open lunch bag. "I'll be back Moomin!" he whispers, then gets out of the tent. He puts on his shoes and runs to the forest where Nana is waiting for him. </p><p>He smiles when he sees a light brown wolf, sitting patiently next to a tree by the chain. "Nana!" he says. The wolf looks up and gets up excitedly. He turns into his human form, with a big smile on his face. "Injun!" He looks down at the sandwiches in Renjun's hands. "What are those?" he asks. Renjun looks down where Nana was looking at and smiles. "My mom made sandwiches for lunch earlier and I wanted to bring them to you! They're really good!" Nana stares at Renjun with big eyes, then smiles. "Ok! I can show you something I have too! Come on!" </p><p>They walk back to the open area where Nana had found Renjun the last night. They sit at the same place as they had done yesterday and begin to eat their sandwiches. While they were eating, Renjun tells Nana about his time in the river with Sicheng and his home back at China. Nana listened attentively, his eyes looking into Renjun's. "We want a dog, but we don't know which one to get" he says. Nana swallows the last bit of his sandwich, then neatly folds the saran wrap into a square. "How about a shiba inu like me?" he suggest. Renjun stops mid bite. "I thought you are a wolf?" he says. Nana smiles and gets up. Like how he had changed from a wolf into a human, Nana slowly starts to change into a small shiba inu, which makes Renjun squeal. "You're so cute!" he says. He scoots closer and pets Nana's head. Nana wags his tail then starts to turn back into his human form. "See! Get a shiba inu, ok?" Renjun nods. "Ok!" </p><p>Nana waits for Renjun to finish his sandwich before showing what he has to share. Renjun's eyes widen when he sees Nana pull out a circle candy tin from the pockets. "Hey! I know those! Those are really good!" he says, pointing at the familiar tin. "I know right? These are my favorite candies" he says, showing the tin to Renjun. "The lady at the store gave this to me for free!" Renjun gasps. "Awee, you're so lucky to get free candy" he pouts. Nana laughs and opens the tin. "You're cute Injun" he says with a bright smile. </p><p>They share a couple of pieces before it was time for Renjun to go, which made them equally sad. "See you tomorrow?" Renjun asks. Nana nods with a smile. "I'll meet you right here like today." Renjun smiles back and gives a ok sign with his fingers. He climbs under the chains and waves at Nana. "I'll see you again tomorrow!" </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun and Nana continued to meet each other for the rest of his trip. The Huang-Dongs had stayed at campground for 2 weeks, plenty of enough time for Renjun to befriend Nana. </p><p>The routine for Renjun was simple; play with his family during the daytime then sneak out and play with Nana in the forest during nighttime. He played all sorts of games with Nana, and even got to get to know some plants and flowers Nana had showed him. "This one always grows in these bushes" Nana had said one time, referring to the small yellow flowers Renjun saw the first day. "They're really pretty and their milk tastes like honey!" </p><p>It indeed tasted like honey, and Renjun loved it. </p><p>There was also the uh.. magical aspect of Nana. </p><p>Renjun never really questioned the fact that Nana was a werewolf. He just sorta..accepted the fact that his new friend can turn into a wolf at will anytime he wanted. </p><p>He also just accepted that some of the flowers in the forest.. can move. </p><p>There was a time when Nana had introduce Renjun to a bush of purple flowers. "Hello! How are you doing today?" Renjun watched the heads of the flowers turn to Nana and wave at him with their leaf. "I wanted you to meet my friend Injun! Injun, these are my flower friends." Renjun looked at the flowers and waved with a shy smile. "Hi, I'm Huang Renjun, but you can call me Injun." The flowers turn to Renjun and wave at him with their leaves, making Renjun giggle. "They're really cute!" he says to Nana. The wolf nods. "They are right? That's why I like talking to them, but I can't speak flower language so I can't understand what they're saying." </p><p>One day, Renjun had asked Nana about the pink flower he had saw the first day he was at the campgrounds. When he asked, Nana tilted his head. "I've never seen a flower like that before! I bet it was really pretty though." Renjun smiles. "It was pretty, and it was glowing! It said hi to me, but I never go to talk to it." Nana nods and looks up at the sky. The moon had a crescent shape today. Renjun had joked earlier that it looked like a banana which made Nana laugh hysterically. "When are you going back to China?" Nana asks softly. Renjun doesn't turn to Nana, and looks up at the sky too. "Mama said we're going back in two days. So that means..." Renjun places his head on his knees. "I'm leaving in two days." The forest got quiet after that sentence. The cicadas filled the area again with their music, accompanied with the crickets nearby. </p><p>At this moment, Renjun had realized something.</p><p>"Where are your parents?" </p><p>He never saw Nana's family during the time Renjun was with him. He had introduced Renjun to some flowers and trees, but not.. humans or wolves. </p><p>Nana shifts a little in his spot and doesn't answer. Renjun asks a second time. "Are you.. alone?" Nana doesn't answer the question. Instead he just says; "Please don't learn about me Injun..It'll make you sad." He turns his head. "I don't want you to be sad." Renjun freezes. The response Nana gave him shocked him a little. He turns back to the moon. "I'm sorry" he whispers. Nana doesn't say anything else until a few seconds after. "Is it nice, to be with your family?" he asks. Renjun nods. "It really is. They give you love and make you warm. It makes me happy." Nana nods and goes back to watch the moon. Renjun turns to him and observes the other boy. He was more tense then he was earlier. His posture was more straight then usual, and his hands were squeezed together in his lap. "Can.. you do something for me?" Nana asks. He turns to Renjun. The latter becomes a little sad at the sight of Nana's eyes. They were shiny, almost as if he was about to cry. Renjun nods. Nana looks down at the ground and says in a quiet voice: "Can.. you hug me?" Renjun doesn't answer, nor move. Nana sighs and lets his tears fall out of from his eyes. "I don't remember what it's like to be hugged" he whispers. Nana looks up. "I'm curious now. What it's like to be warm." </p><p>Renjun doesn't say anything and wraps his arms around the other boy. It catches Nana off guard, but quickly the young wolf relaxes and rests his head on Renjun's shoulder. "It feels like this" Renjun whispers. Nana buries his head into the crook of Renjun's shoulder and hugs him back. </p><p>They didn't want to let go. </p><p>They didn't want to leave. </p><p>.</p><p>The next night, when Renjun went back to the tent from the forest, his family was gone. "Mama? Baba? Gege?" he calls out. He looks at Moomin. "Where did they go Moomin?" he asks. The stuffed animal didn't answer. Renjun quickly goes out of the tent and tries to call for his family in Chinese. "Mama! Baba! Gege!" He checks the other tents nearby. No one else was in their tents. "Hello?" he calls out in Korean. "Help! My family are gone!" he shouts. </p><p>Panicked, Renjun's eyes start to fill with tears. The feeling he felt when he was lost in the forest comes rushing back. "Mama! Baba! Gege!" he calls out again. Then Renjun realizes something. "Nana!" Quickly, Renjun runs back to the forest, hoping that the pup was still there. Luckily he was, and was getting ready to go back. "Nana! Nana!" The wolf pup turns around. His eyes grow wide when he sees tears on Renjun's face. Once Renjun gets to Nana, the wolf had turned into a human. "Injun? What happened?" </p><p>"Jaemin" Renjun says. "My family.. th-they're m-missing! I d-don't kn-know where they a-are!" Nana ducks under the chains and onto the other side to hug Renjun. "It's ok, it'll be all ok Injun. Don't worry" Renjun wails in Nana's arms. Tears not being able to stop. "It's ok, you're safe Injun. You're safe" Nana whispers. He starts to comb through Renjun's hair. "I'll help you find your parents, don't worry." Renjun begins to calm down. The warmth of Nana, made him feel relaxed. "Thank you" he whispers. </p><p>"I promise.." Nana whispers back. "I promise I'll be here with you no matter what." Renjun's crying starts to die down. His tears slowly coming to a stop. He sighs. "It's warm" he thinks. </p><p>"RENJUN!!" </p><p>Renjun and Nana perk up at the sound of someone calling out Renjun's name. From a distance, they see Renjun's family along with the rest of the families that were camping with them come rushing to where they were with a couple of police men. "Renjun!" his mother calls out. "Mama!" Renjun yells. Nana let's go of Renjun and watches him run up to his family. Renjun's mother hugs her youngest son, her husband and eldest hugging him after. "Where were you! We woke up and you weren't in the tent with us!!" his mother yells, tears coming out of her eyes. Renjun bites his lips and looks down at the ground. He turns around. Nana was no longer there. </p><p>"Huang Renjun" </p><p>Renjun turns around. "Your mother is asking where you have been!" his dad scolds in Chinese. Renjun looks at his brother. Sicheng was staring at him. He wasn't crying now, but Renjun could tell he was by how shiny his eyes were. His mother, running out of patience, yells at her son.</p><p>"HUANG RENJUN!!" </p><p>"I WAS IN THE FOREST!" Renjun finally answers. "I was in the forest, I wanted to play with Nana! He's lonely and h-he doesn't have a family!!" His family gets shocked by the tears that started to come out of his eyes. "He, he doesn't have any f-friends, o-or a-a family! H-He doesn't know h-how i-it feels to be w-warm! I w-wanted t-to to-" </p><p>"Renjun what are you talking about? No one has been in that forest for years!" his dad yells. Renjun looks up at his father. "No! There's a boy living there! And he's lonely!" He looks at the police officer watching from behind. He gets out of his mother's arms and runs up to him. "Mr. Policeman! You have to help him! He's lonely! Jaemin is lonely! He lives in there!!" he yells in Korean, pointing at the forest. "Huang Renjun, that is enough!" his mother scolds. Renjun turns around. "But it's true!! It's really true!!" He turns back to the police officer. "You have to believe me!! Please give him a home!! PLEASE GIVE HIM A FAMILY PLEASEE!!" </p><p>"Ok, kid, we'll see who's there. Just calm down" the police officer says. Renjun's dad sighs, and his mother grabs his hand. "You are on time out until we get back to China!" his mother yells. Renjun doesn't say anything to her, and only turns to the officer. "Please find him! Please officer!" </p><p>Before he could say anything else, his mother starts to drag Renjun back to the tent, his father and brother following him. Jaemin watches from a far in his wolf form. He watches Renjun being dragged by his mother, yelling at the police officer to help him. A tear rolls down Jaemin's face. "It's ok Injunnie. I'm ok" he thinks. </p><p>"I'm ok." </p><p>.</p><p>On the last day of the Huang-Dong's trip to Korea, Renjun sat in the tent with his mom as a punishment. Moomin was taken away from him, and he wasn't allowed to play with his brother. </p><p>He didn't care though, all he cared was that Jaemin was safe in someone's arms. All he cared about was Jaemin. </p><p>The police officers however, said that the couldn't find anything. </p><p>"They couldn't find the boy kiddo" his father said when he went into the tent with his brother. "What? No! He's in there! He's in there!" Renjun yells. Sicheng presses his lips together and shares a concerned glance with his father. "That's enough Renjun" his mother says. Renjun ignores her. "Did they find a wolf? A light brown wolf! He's a light brown wolf!" </p><p>"Renjun I said stop it!" Renjun stops talking and looks down at the ground of the tent. His dad gives him a sad look and pats his feet. "Renjun I'm sorry, they couldn't find the boy. Now is the time for you to reflect. You made us very worried you know. Plus, you went into an area that you weren't supposed to go into. Think about what you've done first." After, his dad tells Sicheng he can play. Sicheng hesitatingly grabs his ball and gives his brother one last glance. Renjun doesn't look at him and only looks at the ground. Sicheng sighs and goes out of the tent, his father following him to supervise. </p><p>The day went on painfully slow. When it came to sleep, Renjun's parents locked the tent so he couldn't get out. He doesn't sleep though. All he could think about was Jaemin, and wonders if he's ok, if he's lonely, if he's cold. Tears start to form at the corner of Renjun's eyes. "I miss him Moomin" he thinks to himself (Moomin was locked away in a suitcase). "I hope he's ok." </p><p>At around 2 in the morning, a fire had broken out in the forest. </p><p>No one knows how it happened. There was smoke coming out from the center, then suddenly a burst of flames had lit the forest on fire. </p><p>All families had to evacuate the campgrounds and wait for the firefighters to handle the fire in the forest. Renjun looks at the fire with big eyes, and holds his brother's arms tightly in the parking lot. </p><p>Then he realizes something. </p><p>Without a word, Renjun suddenly starts sprinting towards the campgrounds. "RENJUN!! RENJUN NO!!" his mother calls out. He dodges all of the other adults, trying to stop him from getting to campgrounds and ignores the call for his name. He enters the campground then runs faster towards the chains. </p><p>"Nana, Nana, Nana, Nana, Nana, Nana-" </p><p>He ducks under the chains and enters the fire infested forest. Renjun looks in horror at all of the trees and plants lit on fire. All of the flowers he had met are now burning to death. All of the trees he had talked to are now breaking in half. One tree almost falls on top of him. He leaves it and starts heading towards the open area where he had always played with Jaemin. </p><p>"NANA!!" he calls out. "NANA!!" He dodges the falling trees and tramples over dead leaves and sticks. </p><p>"NANA!!" </p><p>He begins to cough. </p><p>"NANA!!" </p><p>Renjun eventually reaches the open area. He searches for the young pup, but doesn't seem to see him. He chooses a random path and starts to run towards it. </p><p>"NANA!! NANA!!" </p><p>Eventually, Renjun notices a giant cave next to him. He coughs and squints. He gasps as he sees a orange and red ghost, that looks like the embodiment of fire, hovering over a little boy. "NANA!" he screams. The ghost turns around and faces Renjun. It throws a ball of fire at him that strikes Renjun in the leg causing the little one to fall. Renjun screams in pain and agony from the burn on his leg. He panics as he notices the ghost creeping closer and closer to him. "NO, GET AWAY FROM ME!!" he yells out. The spirit bursts into flames. "GET AWAY!!" </p><p>The ghost starts to charge a fire ball to throw at Renjun when suddenly a stream of water strikes the ghost and makes it bursts into orange glowing spheres. "Go! I'll take Jaemin with me!" the man says. Renjun shakes his head. The man frowns and goes into the cave to retrieve Jaemin onto his back. Once he does, he tells Renjun to grab his hand. Renjun complies and the three try to escape the burning forest as fast as they could. </p><p>They almost make it into the open area before another fire ghost comes out of nowhere and strikes the man in the chest. It makes him fall onto the ground and drop Jaemin. "GO!! TAKE JAEMIN WITH YOU, JUST GET OUT OF HERE!!" Renjun looks at the ghost and the man in fear. He gathers enough courage to grab Jaemin and throws his arm over his shoulder before limping his way out of the area. When he reaches to the path to the entrance of the forest, he turns around and watches in terror as the ghost burns the man alive. Scared, he limps faster to get out of the area. </p><p>"I'm sorry Mr.! Thank you Mr.!" </p><p>Renjun's coughing gets worse. He sees the chain in sight, but falls to the ground. Renjun gets up and shakes Jaemin's body. "WAKE UP, WAKE UP!" Renjun coughs some more, his head feeling dizzy. "WAKE UP, NANA PLEASE!!" The young pup doesn't budge. "NANA!! NA JAEMIN!!" Renjun shouts. He becomes dizzy, it becomes harder to breathe. "Please...Nana.." Renjun says weakly. He tries to catch his breath before talking again. "Please,.. don't die on me.. you promised that.. that..</p><p>that..you would.." </p><p>Then, everything turns black.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>OHOHOHO IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER BABYYYY</p><p>BUT HOLD ON, THERE'S MORE MYSTERIES!</p><p>YOU THOUGHT I WAS DONE? NO I WAS JUST GETTING STARTED JENIFER! </p><p>(if your name is Jenifer, then give me a heyyyy in the comments, with the exact amount of y's) </p><p>Anyways thanks for reading, and see you next week!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0032"><h2>32. 17. Renjun Remembers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Renjun remembers his time with Nana in the forest.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HI!</p><p>Sorry for not updating yesterday, I had some personal issues that had come up so I had forgot to update this new chapter!</p><p>I hope you enjoy this one! Lots of crying, so be prepared!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The group would meet each other in the center of District U, the fire spirit The group would meet each other in the center of District U, the fire spirit (that Donghyuck kept calling Flameio for some reason), from the mall a couple of days ago being with them. Donghyuck and Jisung had told the others that Renjun was missing, thus the they all went searching for him. </p><p>"Renjun!!" they called out. They kept extra careful for any rouge spirits that may be on the hunt for them. Jaemin silently eyes all of the buildings, worry filling up at the back of his mind. "Is he ok? I hope he's ok. Please tell me he's ok" he keeps thinking to himself. Jeno had put a sympathetic hand on Jaemin's shoulder and gave him a small smile. "He'll turn up don't worry about it. Renjun's strong willed." </p><p>Jaemin knew that of course. That's why he trusts that Renjun's still alive. </p><p>But it's possible he's very hurt. </p><p>The boys sooner or later turn up at a abandoned estate with tall Joseon style buildings that loomed over them. Jaemin glares at the gates that creaked opened as they walked upon them and the single swing set that surprisingly is still in tact. "Should we search here?" Mark says. Donghyuck nods. "He could be hiding in a building somewhere." Before they could enter the estate, Jaemin stops them. "We all can't go in here, the area is filled with poisonous gas."  He looks up at the fire spirit that was accompanying them. The fire spirit nods and goes inside through one of the open windows of the building. </p><p>"How do you know it's filled with poisonous gas?" Chenle asks. Jaemin doesn't say anything and shrugs. "Cause I do." He ignores the look Jeno gives him from the side. They wait a couple moments before the fire spirit comes zooming out of the window, its color had changed to a bright orange, as if its panicking. "Did you find him?" Donghyuck asks. The fire spirit nods like a bobble head. Jaemin's eyes widen. "No" he says under his breath. He quickly runs to the gate, covering his nose, and goes into the estate. Mark turns to Jeno and tells him to call 911. "Tell them to meet us near Cherry Park." he instructs. </p><p>Inside the building, Jaemin turns into his wolf form and runs around the rooms. He looks at the fire spirit with him. It gestures to follow it. They go up to the second floor and sees Renjun's lifeless like body laying on the floor. Jaemin turns back into his human form and runs up to the elemental human. "RENJUN!!" he shouts. He shakes Renjun's body. No response. Jaemin checks for a pulse. </p><p>It was there, but it could be gone any moment. </p><p>Not caring about the toxic gas he's breathing in himself, Jaemin throws Renjun onto his back and runs down the stairs, the fire spirit following him. When he opens the door, Jaemin hears the screams of Renjun's name from his friends. Donghyuck runs up to the gate, Mark yelling at him to be careful. "Oh Renjun, Renjun!!" Donghyuck yells, tears spilling out of his eyes. Chenle and Jisung run up to open the gate to let Jaemin out. "We need to get out of here, and get medical attention fast" Mark says. Jaemin looks up at the fire spirit. The fire spirit looks at him and nods again. "Follow the fire spirit" Jaemin says. The rest of the group complies, and quickly they run out of the abandoned area, with their friend's life on the line.</p><p>"Hang on there Renjun. We're here for you. I'm here for you. I'm not leaving you, so don't leave me..."</p><p>"..stay alive Renjun, please." </p><p>.</p><p>They make out of the abandoned area safely and to Cherry Park with no disturbance. The paramedics, were to shocked to see 6 college students running up to them with a human being carried on one of their backs. "Pull out the gurney quick!" one of them says. Once the group had made it to the ambulance, the paramedics had Jaemin lay Renjun on a gurney and immediately give him oxygen. "Ok kids, tell me everything. His name, species, and what happened to him" one of the paramedic says. Donghyuck speaks to her; "His name is Huang Renjun, he's a elemental human and.. and.." </p><p>"He was found unconscious in a building filled with poisonous gas" Jaemin finishes. The paramedic nods and tells her coworker to put some talismans on Renjun to suck out the negative energy from him. Her coworker nods and grabs slips of yellow paper and put them on Renjun's chest. Immediately as the the paper had made contact with Renjun's body, the negative energy is seen being brought into the talisman like a vacuum. "This will help him get better quickly, but we need to take him to the hospital for further investigation" the paramedic says. "Can we go with him?" Jaemin says. The paramedic nods. "Only three of you though." </p><p>Mark taps Jaemin's shoulder. "You go with Hyuck and Chenle in the ambulance, the rest of us will take my car." Jaemin nods. The paramedic gestures for the boys to get onto the ambulance quickly, while the rest run to Mark's car. As Jaemin takes his seat in the ambulance, he takes a look outside of the car and sees the fire spirit. He stares at it, feeling familiar energy from it. The fire spirit bows then flies off right as the paramedics slam the doors of the ambulance shut. </p><p>The ride to the hospital was grim. Chenle was crying the hardest Jaemin has ever seen him, while Donghyuck is trying to calm him down and not cry himself. Jaemin can only stare at Renjun, and watch the talismans do their work. His eyes go to Renjun's face. His eyes were closed, his face was pale. There was no visible emotion, which scares Jaemin a lot. He takes his eyes off of Renjun's face for a while, then looks at Renjun's hand. </p><p>Renjun's hand always seemed tiny to him. Even when they were kids, Jaemin had always thought of Renjun's small hands. How he wanted to keep them warm by holding them with his own. Slowly, Jaemin raises his hand to hold Renjun's. Because of the barrier of the gurney, Renjun's hand was blocked so Jaemin held onto his pinky, like a child not wanted to let go of their parent's hand. </p><p>"I'm right here Renjun" he thinks. "I won't leave you, so please don't leave me. I'm right here. Please don't go anywhere, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."</p><p>"Please don't die on me again." </p><p>.</p><p>Jaemin didn't have a great childhood. He doesn't like talking about it, and he thinks he never will. </p><p>But the memory that hurts him the most is seeing Renjun die in his arms. </p><p>It was seeing Renjun's lifeless, small, and frail body sitting on Jaemin's lap that made him want to become a vengeful spirit and haunt all those who hurt the ones who he loved. </p><p>Before that he thought he was ok, but apparently he was not. </p><p>It was when the fire broke out in the forest. Jaemin had opened his eyes after gaining consciousness. He was laying down on the burning forest floor, near the entrance to the campgrounds. </p><p>He remembers everything. Renjun's closed eyes. His pale skin. The way his body was laying on the floor lifeless. </p><p>Jaemin had jumped up from the ground, frightened by the boy in front of him. Then, once he realizes it's Renjun, he shakes him. </p><p>"I-Injun?"</p><p>He didn't know why he was in the forest. </p><p>"Injun??" </p><p>Jaemin had thought he left to China by now. </p><p>"INJUN!!" </p><p>He had thought,</p><p>
  <i>"at least he's not stuck in this fire."</i>
</p><p>"HWANG INJUN!! WAKE UP!!" </p><p>
  <i>"At least he's safe, in his family's arms."</i>
</p><p>"HUANG RENJUN WAKE UP!!" </p><p>Young Jaemin checks for a pulse. It was there, but barely. With as much strength as he can muster, Jaemin throws Renjun's arm over his shoulder and drags him out into the campgrounds, not caring about the hole in his shoe or the burns on his arms. </p><p>He was able to make it out into the field of the campgrounds and out of the forest. "HELP!!" Jaemin yelled. "SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!! ANYONE!!" </p><p>No one was in the campgrounds, they had all left and evacuated. </p><p>Jaemin trips over his own foot and falls onto the ground. Tears start to fall out his eyes. "SOMEONE PLEASE HELP HIM!! HE'S DYING!!" Jaemin tries to pick up Renjun again, but is almost hit by a fire ball. He turns around and sees a fire spirit, emerging from the burning forest. "GO AWAY!! STOP IT!! I HATE YOU! I HATE ALL OF YOU!!" </p><p>The spirit didn't care. It has one goal, and it will do anything to achieve that goal. Jaemin turns around and picks up Renjun again. He starts walking, but falls onto the ground when the fire spirit throws another fire ball at him. The pup didn't say another word and kept going, dragging Renjun's body with him. "I'm here Renjun, I'm here. Please don't die! Please!" </p><p>The fire spirit throws another ball. It hits Jaemin's back, and makes him fall. He didn't care though, he felt worse. Jaemin gets up again, and grabs Renjun's arm. The fire spirit becomes surprised, but angry on how stubborn Jaemin is. It starts to charge a large fire ball. Jaemin turns around and gasps by how the ball is. He looks at where it's going to throw at, and realizes its target is Renjun. </p><p>"NO!!" </p><p>The fire spirit throws the ball. Jaemin quickly covers Renjun's body with his own and prepares for impact of the fire ball. </p><p>It never came. Instead, someone had pushed him and Renjun out of the way. Jaemin looks up and sees Doyoung, the son of his parent's friends, throw a small ball at the fire ball which explodes and freezes the ball and the spirit. Then, with a small knife, he strikes the ice encased spirit at its core causing small orange and yellow orbs to appear and float to the sky. The fire ball at the time then melts the ice around it and strikes a stone wall, only making a few burns on the grass, but nothing else. </p><p>It became surprisingly silent. With a burning forest, one would think that it would be less calm.</p><p>"D-Doyoung hyung?" Jaemin calls out. Doyoung lifts his head up, his eyes were a dark red, which scared Jaemin as he never seen his hyung like this before. The color goes away when Doyoung realizes the little boy holding onto another boy with his dear life. "J-Jaemin?" Doyoung sheaths his knife and wobbles over to the younger. Once he realizes it's really Jaemin, Doyoung runs over and engulfs him into a big hug. "Oh thank goodness you're safe!" he says. He lets go and sees Renjun in Jaemin's lap. Doyoung gives him a questioned look. "Please help him...He's dying" Jaemin says in a whispered tone. Tears were coming out his eyes, his hands was gripping onto Renjun's clothes as if he were to die if he had let go. Doyoung looks back down at the little boy and checks his pulse. His eyes widen and his lips press together. Jaemin shakes his head. "N-no..I-I.. h-he was ok before.." Jaemin croaks out. </p><p>Doyoung gives the younger a sad expression. He shakes his head. Jaemin's eyes widen. He slowly looks down at Renjun, and shakes his head. "N-no.. H-he was.. h-he was breathing! HE WAS BREATHING, HIS HEART WAS BEATING!!" Doyoung looks at the grass, not saying anything more. Jaemin lets out a shriek like wail. He hugs Renjun close to his chest and buries his head into the crook of the boy's lifeless body. "RENJUN I'M SORRY!! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE!! PLEASE!! I'M HERE, I'M RIGHT HERE!!" he screams. </p><p>The flowers that weren't stuck in the fire wilts at the poor boy's crying. Doyoung could only look at Jaemin, and watch him hold onto to this little boy as if it'll bring him back to life. Jaemin looks up at Doyoung. "YOU HAVE TO BRING HIM BACK!! PLEASE BRING HIM BACK!!" Doyoung looks down at the ground once more. "I can't.. Not without a Moon Cherry Blossom flower..." Jaemin tilts his head. "WHY THAT SPECIFIC FLOWER?? WHY NOT ANY OTHER FLOWER?!?!" </p><p>Doyoung looks up and shouts back. "BECAUSE IT'S THE ONLY FLOWER WITH HEALING PROPERTIES. IF IT WAS ANY OTHER FLOWER THEN I COULD'VE-" He stops and looks at the ground again. Jaemin looks at the older with big eyes, the tears having now goal of stopping. Doyoung quietly says his next sentence. "If it was any flower.. I could've brought Taeyong hyung back." Jaemin furrows his eyebrows. "T-Taeyong hyung?" he asks. Doyoung nods. </p><p>At this moment, a little vibration was felt from the ground around them. Jaemin and Doyoung turned their head and saw a little flower, with pink flower petals that shined under the moon. It looked at Jaemin and Doyoung and waved a leaf at them. It then saw Renjun in Jaemin's lap. It tilted its head. "He's.. dead" Jaemin says quietly. The flower doesn't react much. It goes back to its original position and stands still, as if it's thinking. Then, it turns to Doyoung and offers a points a leaf towards him, to Renjun. Doyoung's eyes widen. "A-are you sure?" The flower nods its head, it's petals shaking as it does. Doyoung smiles. "Thank you.." he whispers. The flower bows, Doyoung bows back. The ghost turns to Jaemin with a big smile. "Jaemin, take Renjun to that bench over there ok?" he says quietly. The wolf, unsure as to why his hyung was suddenly smiling, doesn't answer. Doyoung sighs and looks at Jaemin with pleading eyes. "Look, you, and Taeil hyung are the only ones I have left. The last thing I want to see is you to be more hurt." Jaemin looks down and hugs Renjun's body tighter. "And as a doctor, I cannot let a person die in front of me like that. Even if I couldn't save Taeyong hyung, I at least want to save your friend." Jaemin looks up at Doyoung with bright eyes. "Y-you can save him?" he asks. Doyoung nods. "But we gotta do it quick, before your friend becomes a fire spirit." Jaemin looks down at Renjun then at Doyoung. He looks at the flower, patiently waiting for his answer. The young boy then looks at Doyoung and nods. </p><p>"Ok" </p><p>.</p><p>Doyoung made Jaemin hide on a bench that was furthest away from any human eye while he went to get supplies. The ghost comes back with a bowl of water from the stream, and the head of the flower from earlier. He sits down next to Jaemin on the bench and sighs. "Jaemin, I need you to listen to closely." The young boy looks up, his eyes staring straight at Doyoung's face. "Your friend has run out half of his spiritual energy. The flower can make up for most of it, but it won't be enough." Jaemin's face falls. "But" Doyoung says. "If he receives the energy of another supernatural, he can come back to life." Jaemin's eyes widen, however he gets confused by Doyoung's hesitant expression.</p><p>"I can't give him my blood." </p><p>"Then I will." </p><p>Doyoung sighs again. "I can't give my blood because I'm a ghost, it'll just make you friend a ghost too. So yes you can, but you're too young. I'm afraid that if you use too much you'll get hurt." Jaemin shakes his head. "I don't care, as long as he's ok and alive I'll be ok." The older gives a sad smile at Jaemin. "You are giving up your spiritual energy, so I'll give you some of mine. Ghosts can give energy to supernaturals so it's ok." Jaemin tilts his head. "But what about you?" he asks. The ghost takes out his knife. "i'll be fine, I'm a ghost so I get special treatment from shamans." Doyoung looks at the small knife in his hand and takes a deep breath. He looks at Jaemin who is already offering his hand. The ghost chuckles and takes off the sheath off of the knife. "You ready?" Jaemin nods. "Hold your breath, it's gonna hurt" Doyoung says. </p><p>He makes a small cut on Jaemin's palm. The wolf winces, but doesn't react nonetheless. Doyoung then guides the blood into the bowl. It drops into the water as a dark red color, but then turns into a green glow. Doyoung smiles. "He might have plant elemental powers." Jaemin looks up at Doyoung and smiles. "That's great! He really likes plants!" Doyoung looks up at Jaemin and gives a small chuckle. He tells Jaemin to open Renjun's mouth a little and lets the liquid into his mouth. Once the bowl becomes empty, Doyoung puts down the bowl and waits. Suddenly, green spheres surround Renjun, bringing the color back to his skin. Jaemin felt his heart come back to life, gleaming with joy when the first heart beat was felt. </p><p>Then Renjun took a huge breath, and began to breathe again. </p><p>"Injun! Injun!" Jaemin yells. He tries to shake him, but Doyoung stops him. "He's still weak." Jaemin makes a guilty expression and looks down at Renjun again. "i'm sorry Injun" he says. He looks at the burn on his leg. It starts to heal quickly, thanks to the flower. "Jaemin" The young pup looks up. "Let's give him back to his parents." </p><p>.</p><p>Jaemin and Doyoung watched Renjun's family discover his body on the bench. Jaemin had brought Moomin's doll out from their tent (Renjun had told him about his love for Moomin many times) and let him hold him. "At least Moomin can be there for you and keep you warm" Jaemin thinks. He looks up at Doyoung, who was in the process of cutting his own hand and putting it into the bowl. "Where did you get the bowl?" Jaemin asks. Doyoung snorts and looks at Jaemin with a sly smile. "A family's tent." He puts a finger to his mouth and makes a shush sign. Jaemin nods and makes the same gesture. Doyoung smiles bigger and gives the bowl to Jaemin. "Some of the flower's petals are in there. I got more stream water while you were waiting for Injun's family, so you can drink it." Jaemin accepts it, but doesn't drink it immediately. He gives a worried look to Doyoung. The older only smiles at him and gestures for him to drink it. "I'm fine Jaemin, you need it more then me." Jaemin smiles back. "Thank you hyung. Thank you for being here with me." He then drinks the bowl, immediately feeling his energy coming back. He gives the bowl back to Doyoung who just, awkwardly leaves it on a root of a tree. </p><p>"Gah!" Doyoung whips his head towards Jaemin, who was covering his mouth. "Are you ok?" he asks, checking for any injuries. Jaemin nods. "What are you hiding?" Doyoung asks. It takes a moment for Jaemin to lower his hands. When he does, Doyoung gasps at the new fangs that were hiding in the younger's mouth. He nervously laughs. "I think my energy kinda made you half vampire." Jaemin's eyes widen. "I'm.. a vampire?" </p><p>"Half. You're not only a werewolf anymore. You're going to be much weaker then other werewolves because of your vampire half." Jaemin makes a O with his mouth and looks at the ground. He didn't really know what to think of his new identity. Is it cool? He wasn't sure. The pair then hears sirens of a ambulance. They watch as paramedics put Renjun's small body onto a gurney, his mother and brother crying for the youngest member of the family. </p><p>Jaemin's eyes watch Renjun go into the ambulance, then sees the doors of the car close. "Do you want to see him for one last time?" Doyoung asks. Jaemin looks up at Doyoung. "Last. time?" Doyoung sighs for the fifth time this night and crouches down at Jaemin's height. "The spirits know you're here in Seoul. The only way to keep you safe is in Neo City." Jaemin's eyes start to water again. He shakes his head. "But..but" </p><p>"It's the only way Jaemin. Plus, if you're near Injun.. you could endanger him too." Jaemin looks down at the ground. He sees his first tear drop into the grass. What Doyoung is saying isn't wrong. Nevertheless, even if he were to stay with Renjun, he had to go back to China.</p><p>Then Jaemin realizes something.</p><p>"So.. Injun might not remember me, right?" </p><p>Before they had laid Renjun on the bench for his family to see him, Doyoung had told Jaemin that Renjun would momentarily forget who he was because of the amount of spiritual energy that was lost. "He won't remember you for a long time, but when he gets stronger he will." His gaze becomes more serious. "You know what will happen if you would try to get Renjun to remember yes?"</p><p>Of course, and Jaemin does not want to make that mistake ever again. </p><p>"If you want to see him, we need to see him quick then leave as fast as possible. We don't have much time before the spirit find us." The young pup looks up at Doyoung. His thumbs was moving up and down, caressing the the side of his pointer finger. He finally nods. "Ok, let's go see him." Doyoung gives the boy a sad smile. He gets up and puts Jaemin on his back. "Hold on tight, it's gonna be a long ride to the hospital ok?" </p><p>Jaemin nods, and up they went to the hospital. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun had been checked into a room by the time Doyoung and Jaemin got to the hospital. Because of the tense situation, it would be hard as "strangers" to go see Renjun so in order not to be seen, Doyoung puts a talisman on Jaemin to make him invisible. "He's going to be in Room 127. Once you're done seeing him, come back here ok?" Jaemin nods. "But how will he see me?" he asks. Doyoung smiles. "He will, don't worry." Jaemin furrows his eyebrows out of confusion but doesn't question it. He wanted to see Renjun as soon as possible. </p><p>After Doyoung's words of caution, Jaemin walks quickly to the doors of the children's ward of the hospital. He waits for a person to walk through the sliding doors, then follows them right after. He looks up at the names of the rooms, trying to figure out where Renjun is. Once he sees a hallway tag that points to a hallway with Room 127, he smiles and runs down.</p><p>"127, 127, 127" </p><p>He finds it. The doorknob was too high for him though. Jaemin stops and wonders how he will get through the door. "Can I touch it?" he thinks. The young pup puts his hand through the door of the room and gasps. His hand went right through. Taking a deep breath, Jaemin walks through the door and into the room. </p><p>There he was. </p><p>Renjun was peacefully sleeping on the hospital bed. Thankfully, there weren't any scary tubes that were poking him. The only thing that was going through him was the IV. "That flower must be really powerful for health" Jaemin thinks. He looks at Renjun's older brother, who was sleeping in the chair next to Renjun's bed. The door opens, startling Jaemin, and making him step to the side. Renjun's mother comes into the room and tries to shake Renjun's brother awake. "Sicheng, Sicheng" she whispers. Renjun's older brother opens his eyes and looks up. "Huh?" he says. Renjun's mother tells him something in Chinese. His brother nods and gets up from the chair next to the bed. They leave, making Jaemin the only one in the room with Renjun. </p><p>Quietly, Jaemin walks over and touches the chair. Thankfully, his hand doesn't go through. He climbs on top of it, and looks at Renjun's face. It had much more color then when Jaemin had found him. He had a peaceful face, and was breathing gently. Jaemin looks at his hand and holds it softly. It was warm again. </p><p>"Hi Injun" Jaemin whispers. "You don't know me..but I know you.." Tears threaten to fall out of Jaemin's eyes again. Nothing responds to the young boy. The only sound that was heard was the heart monitor next to Renjun's bed on the other side. Jaemin wipes a few tears from his face and talks again. "I-I'm sorry Injun" he says. "I-I wasn't t-there for y-you." He sniffs and plays with Renjun's fingers. "I c-can't be w-with you now. If I-I stay, you w-will get..h-hurt again." </p><p>"And die." </p><p>Jaemin gently lifts Renjun's hand and presses it against his cheek. He sniffs and caresses Renjun's hand with his thumb. "Make sure to get a lot of hugs from your family and..to hug Moomin a lot when you're sad." Jaemin pauses to sniff again and wipes his tears. "A-and, if you are c-cold, make sure to get lot's of blankets ok?" Jaemin sighs and puts Renjun's hand down, but not letting it go. "I have to go somewhere far away, but when I get stronger I'll find you, and when I find you I'll make sure to keep you safe ok? I'll be right there, like I am.. here" Jaemin, stares at Renjun's face and caresses his cheek. Then, he looks down at Renjun's hand. He giggles a bit. "I forgot to tell you Injunnie" he says softly. "Your hands are really small. They're cute." He looks at Renjun's face again and smiles. He leans over and puts his hand on Renjun's heart. "My mommy told me..that even if she's not here for me to see.. she'll always be in here" he says, patting Renjun's chest gently. "So.. when you get sad. just remember that I'm always here.. right here." </p><p>The young pup gives a sad smile and leans back. "Bye.. Injunnie.." </p><p>He climbs off of the chair and slowly walks to the door. </p><p>"Wait." </p><p>Jaemin stops. He turns around. His eyes widen as he watches Renjun slowly sit up from the bed. He leans his head against a pillow on his headboard. "Don't go" he says weakly. </p><p>"I can't stay" Jaemin whispers. They stare at each other for a while, their eyes become glassy. "You're crying though" Renjun whispers. "You're sad." Jaemin walks over back to the bed. He climbs onto the chair and puts a hand on Renjun's face. "It's ok..I'll get better." </p><p>They both knew that was a lie. </p><p>Renjun frowns. "Who are you?" he asks. "Why are you crying?" Jaemin puts his hand down and giggles. "I'm your angel" he says. Renjun's eyes widen. "My angel?" Jaemin nods. "I came here because you got hurt. But now you're better, I have to go back to heaven." Renjun grabs Jaemin's hands. "P-please don't go.." he says, a tear falling out of his eye. The young pup's smile falters, but doesn't fall. He wipes Renjun's single tear. "I'm right here" he says. He taps Renjun's chest. "If you need me, just remember I'm always here, ok?" Renjun nods, holding a hand to his chest. Jaemin gives a one last bright smile, before lightly removing Renjun's hand from his. He climbs down the chair and walks over to the door. Jaemin gives one last look at Renjun and waves good bye. Then walks through the room's door. </p><p>Renjun didn't want him to go though. He tries to climb out of his bed, but was stopped by the heart monitors on his chest and the IV line. He rips everything off, and jumps out of the bed, ignoring the slight pain in his leg. </p><p>"WAIT!!" </p><p>Jaemin doesn't turn around and starts running. </p><p>"WAIT!!" </p><p>He hears the hospital staff trying to stop Renjun from behind.</p><p>"DON'T GO PLEASE!!" </p><p>Jaemin makes it out of the hospital door where Doyoung is waiting for him. He looks back and sees Renjun getting caught by one of the nurses. "LET GO OF ME!!" he yells. As he manages to wrestle himself free, Jaemin and Doyoung had gone through a window into the hospital of Neo City. </p><p>In Doyoung's arms, Jaemin let's out a loud sob. Doyoung only caresses his hair silently, ignoring the people staring at him and the child in his arms. Renjun on the other side, happens to see Neo City through the window due to his new spiritual abilities. He sees Jaemin crying and tries to go in, but get's stopped by his mother. "Baobei! What are you doing out here?" she asks. Renjun ignores her, and tries to go in. Jaemin notices Renjun through the window, trying to wrestle out of his mother's arms. He stops crying and smiles sadly. </p><p>"I'm ok" he mouths. Renjun shakes his head and tries to wrestle more aggressively. "Renjun stop!" his mother yells. Jaemin and Renjun look at each other for a few more seconds. Then Jaemin puts a hand over his chest and pats it. Renjun stops, his eyes not leaving the other. </p><p>"It's ok.. you're safe" Jaemin mouths again. Renjun, breathing heavily, lets a few tears go. He gives a small smile back to Jaemin and nods. "I'll see you again then" he mouths. Jaemin's eyes widen, but then go back to regular size. He waves good bye, and falls asleep in Doyoung's arms. Renjun waves good bye as well and rest in his mother's arms, feeling sleepy himself. </p><p>Doyoung, noticing Jaemin had calmed down, then gets up and takes him to the brand new spirit lab of Neo City's cardiovascular ward. Renjun's mother, at the same time takes Renjun back to his hospital room with Sicheng and his father following them.</p><p>They would be separated for 14 years, until they make eye contact at a certain dorm room at Neo University. </p><p>"Hi, I'm Huang Renjun" Renjun would say, with his hand out for a shake.</p><p>Jaemin would accept it, then say "I'm.. Na Jaemin." </p><p>You know what happens after that.</p><p>.</p><p>The first thing that Renjun sees when he had slowly opened his eyes, was the bright, hospital room ceiling. "Where am I?" he thinks. "Am I in the hospital?" </p><p>He notices that something is on his face. It was a oxygen mask. He hears the sound of his bpm on the vitals machine next to him, and the IV needle in his arm. "What happened, I don't remember" Renjun thinks. Then the memories come back to him. How he went into the large building in District U, how he had passed out from the poisonous gas. </p><p>He remembers his dream too. How the forest was on fire, and the little boy. The little boy who had come to comfort him, to make sure that he was ok. </p><p>Then, the memory of the campgrounds. The memory of Nana, and the forest fire. </p><p>It was strange. Renjun feels like it should be a dream. It doesn't feel like a dream though, it feels like an actual experience that Renjun had gone through. Like a memory that had been hidden from him for the past 17 years. </p><p>Renjun thinks about the memory. When he and his family had left Junhui's house to go to the campgrounds in Seoul. When he had discovered the huge forest and had sneaked out of his family's tent to go see what's inside. He thinks about the little boy, Nana and all of the games he played with him and all of the flowers and trees he talked to. Then, when his family had gone out to look for him, then the fire. </p><p>The fire.</p><p>"Is that, where it began?" Renjun asks himself, referring to his fear of fire. It is possible. He remembers how big and scary the fire spirit looked when it was approaching him. It also didn't help how he was in a environment where everything was burning down. </p><p>Slowly, Renjun turns his head to the left. He looks down and sees Jaemin, who is kneeling down besides his hospital bed and holding his hand tightly, as if Renjun were to disappear. </p><p>The little boy.</p><p>"He grew up well" Renjun thinks. He smiles. Its been a while since Renjun had seen Jaemin in his human form. While his wolf form is great, Renjun missed seeing Jaemin as the Jaemin he had first met. Well, maybe now it's technically not that. </p><p>Renjun snaps out of his thoughts when he hears Jaemin mumble about something. His eyes sadden when he sees a tear coming out from Jaemin's eye. The wolf moves Renjun's hand closer to his face, then mumbles something again. Renjun couldn't hear clearly because of the oxygen mask and vital machine, but he understands enough from the tear on Jaemin's face. </p><p>With the limited amount of energy he had, Renjun carcasses his thumb softly against the back of Jaemin's hand. He can't move, so he is hoping that maybe this will help Jaemin sleep more peacefully. </p><p>Thankfully, it does. Jaemin stops mumbling and sighs. The tears stop falling out and a peaceful expression replaces the pained one. Satisfied, Renjun keeps caressing Jaemin's hand before he starts to feel tired himself, and falls back to sleep. </p><p>This time, he dreamt of a pink flower, and a certain wolf next to it, who smiled at Renjun lovingly under the moonlight. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun had waken up the next morning when a nurse was checking his vitals. Once she notices that he was awake, she asks him a few questions. "Mr. Huang? Are you awake?" Renjun nods. The nurse smiles. "I'm going to bring in Dr. Kim ok? Try not to fall back to sleep." Renjun nods again and watches the nurse walk out of the room. He looks down to where Jaemin was sleeping last night. He gets disappointed seeing the empty space near his hospital bed. He wiggles his fingers a bit. "Now they're cold" he thinks. </p><p>The nurse and Doyoung would come back into Renjun's room. "Renjun? Renjun?" Renjun looks up, nodding as a signal that the doctor has his attention. The ghost puts his hand under Renjun's on his bed. "Write down your answers on my hand ok?" </p><p>Right as Doyoung asks this question, Renjun's friends rush into his room. "Renjun!" Donghyuck calls out. Doyoung puts a finger to his mouth to quiet the merman, then turns back to Renjun. "What year is it?" he asks. Renjun writes with his finger; "2022" </p><p>"What is my name?" </p><p>"Kim Dongyoung" </p><p>"What school do you go to?" </p><p>"Neo University" </p><p>"Where did you come from?" </p><p>"Jilin, China" </p><p>"What is your major?" </p><p>"Elemental spirits; Art minor" </p><p>Doyoung smiles then looks at Renjun's friends. He looks back. "What is Jeno's species?" </p><p>"Werewolf" </p><p>"What is Jisung's elemental?" </p><p>"Ice" </p><p>"Where did Mark come from?" </p><p>"Vancouver, Canada" </p><p>"What is he doing?" Chenle whispers. "He's making sure Renjun retained his memories" Mark whispers back. </p><p>"What is Chenle's ethnicity?" </p><p>"Chinese" </p><p>"What sports team is Donghyuck on?" </p><p>"The swim team." </p><p>Doyoung pauses, and thinks of another question to ask Renjun. He presses his lips in hesitation then asks. </p><p>"Where did you first meet Na Jaemin?" </p><p>Renjun pauses for a second. He knows the answer, but he's still not sure that the campgrounds memory is actually a memory or a dream. He answers anyway just to make sure. </p><p>"Seoul Grand Park Campground" </p><p>Doyoung's eyes grow wide. Renjun's friends share glances with each other, confused as to why the ghost reacted that way. Doyoung doesn't say anything else, but smiles brightly. "Are you wondering where Jaemin is?" Renjun nods. "He's freshing up in the bathroom right now. He'll come back don't worry" Doyoung whispers. Renjun gives a small smile back and nods. Doyoung gets up from the bed and turns to the group. "He remembers his memories, but we're going to keep him here and watch him for a while." A breath of relief is released within the group. Renjun would've laughed at how sync it was if he didn't have the oxygen mask on. Doyoung turns to the nurse and tells her to keep the mask on for a while. "Until he's comfortable breathing on his own." The nurse nods and writes it down on her clipboard. She bows to Doyoung and waves at Mark, then leaves the room. "Watch him and make sure he's ok, ok? Don't crowd him, he's still weak." The group nods like a bunch of bobble heads, eager to see their friend after a full 72 hours. Doyoung smiles a bit then turns to Renjun. "Make sure to press the help button on the remote next to you if you need anything ok?" Renjun nods. Doyoung nods back then leaves the room. </p><p>After the doctor leaves the room, the group immediately rushes up to Renjun. </p><p>"Renjun are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?" </p><p>"GEGE I WAS SO WORRIED"</p><p>"I WAS TOO HUANG, DON'T DISAPPEAR FROM US LIKE THAT PLEASE" </p><p>"Guys give him some room!" </p><p>"HYUNG I ACTUALLY CRIED" </p><p>Ah yes, the comfort of his friends. Renjun's thankful for them and their love. </p><p>In the middle of their banter, Jaemin walks into the room with a towel and a toothbrush in his hand. He closes the door and looks up to see his friends crowding Renjun's bed. Jeno smiles and signals for his friends to move out of the way. Jaemin gives the wolf a confused look then drops his toothbrush and towel when he sees Renjun smiling weakly at him. </p><p>"Hey" his expression said. </p><p>Jaemin runs over and kneels down next to Renjun's bed (the human becomes a little concerned for his knees.. they hit the ground pretty hard). The hybrid opens his mouth to speak, but doesn't say anything. Renjun smiles and lifts his hand and holds onto Jaemin's hand and caresses it with his thumb. "We'll give you guys some privacy" Mark says, then pushes the group out of the room. "WE'LL GET YOU SOME FOOD!!" Chenle shouts before being shoved out of the room by Jisung. Jaemin and Renjun waits for them to leave and close the door before turning to each other. </p><p>"Do.. you remember me?" Jaemin says quietly. Renjun nods. He flattens Jaemin's hand and writes "Na Jaemin, Werevampire, Photography major; speed and strength honing minor" onto his hand. He writes more information like "roommate, coffee addict, hates artificial strawberry and milk, and spirit revivalist assistant" to further prove that he knows who Jaemin is. </p><p>Renjun pauses. "Should I write Nana? The flowers? Something about the campgrounds?" He doesn't get to though, as Jaemin grabs his hand and gently puts it on his face. "Oh thank god." Renjun blinks worriedly as he watches tears coming out of Jaemin's eyes. The hybrid looks up at Renjun. "I am so sorry Renjun. I am so sorry for leaving Neo City without telling you, and for leaving you here, alone, by yourself-"</p><p>The human stops him by faintly pinching his cheek. He makes Jaemin's hand flat again. "I'm sorry too, for making you worried" his expression says. Jaemin sniffs and shakes his head. He's about to say something but Renjun stops him by softly putting his fingers on his mouth. Jaemin takes his hand off of his mouth and starts to play with his fingers. "Are you sure you're ok?" he asks. Renjun nods in response. Jaemin sighs and keeps playing with Renjun's fingers. "Are you hungry? I can ask where the guys are going to get food." Renjun lifts his other hand and points to his mask. "Ah that's right, sorry." They go silent again. "Are you cold?" </p><p>To be honest, he was a bit cold, but he didn't want Jaemin to get up and get some blankets so he says no. The hybrid eyes him with suspicion and puts Renjun's hand down. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I know where the hospital keeps the blankets." He gets up, making Renjun a little disappointed, and goes to a closet near the door. Jaemin opens it and grabs a few blankets. He closes it then walks over to the bed, and starts layering Renjun with the hospital blankets. "There, nice and cozy" he says with a smile. Renjun smiles amusingly. He almost laughs on how big Jaemin's smile was. The hybrid doesn't notice though and sits next to Renjun's bed. He picks up Renjun's hand again and plays his with his fingers. "I like your small hands" he mumbles. Renjun lightly squeezes Jaemin's thumb in response. Jaemin chuckles. "Sorry, I really like them though." </p><p>The group later comes back with food from Jungwoo's sandwich shop. They spend the rest of the day with Renjun in the hospital room, occasionally going back and forth to the spirit lab to help Doyoung. Flameio even visited two times to make sure the human was ok, which made Renjun happy. Nothing made him more happy though, then having Jaemin at his side the entire day and night.</p><p>.</p><p>Two days pass by, and the human gradually starts to feel better. He had his oxygen mask taken off after the fourth day he was in the hospital, and was glad to be able to use his mouth again (he will never take talking, eating, and drinking for granted again). </p><p>"Then Johnny hyung told me to be quiet as if he wasn't the one who was lecturing me about not stealing ketchup packets from the counter" Donghyuck says, rolling his eyes. He takes a swipe of the ketchup with a french fry and pops it into his mouth. "Why do you need that much ketchup packets anyways?" Jaemin asks. Donghyuck gives the latter a evil grin. "I want to surprise Mark hyung by sneaking in some ketchup into his burger. An lots of it." </p><p>"The blood sauce is going to over take the ketchup dumbass" Renjun deadpans. Donghyuck looks at Renjun and narrows his eyes. "How would you know huh? Ever tried blood sauce before?" he asks with a inquisitive tone. "No, but I know they put a crap ton on those burgers" Renjun answers back. Donghyuck glares at Renjun then looks down at Jaemin playing with Renjun's fingers. "Jaemin that isn't PUBG" he jokes. Jisung snickers at the joke from the other side of Renjun's bed. Jaemin looks up at glares at the younger, but the fae doesn't say anything and keeps his eyes glued to the cartoon playing on the TV in Renjun's room. "I have you know Lee Donghyuck, Renjun's hands are adorable, and are much more fun to play with then PUBG." Donghyuck chokes on the soda he was drinking and sets it down. "Oh yeah? I'll tell Jeno that next time you have a PUBG round." Renjun sighs and turns the volume up on the TV. "Thanks hyung" Jisung says, not looking at the older. Jaemin pouts and looks at the human. "Renjuniee, why are you ignoring me??" he drags out. He puts his head on Renjun's lap, and looks up at the shorter with the brightest eyes he has. The human tries to ignore it by watching the TV screen. </p><p>Donghyuck snorts. Jaemin lifts his head and glares at the merman again. "As if Mark hyung doesn't do the same thing to you when you do aegyo" he taunts. "What about me?" Mark says, coming into the room with Jeno and Chenle. Said leprechaun runs up to Renjun's bed with a big smile and something hidden behind his back. "Gege! Guess what! I bring good news after visiting the dorms!" Renjun takes off his eyes from the screen (which makes Jaemin whine in protest) and looks at Chenle. "What you got soldier?" he asks. "Yukhei ge is taking great care of Pangxie. She misses you and Jaemin hyung though. She wants to play with you and her shells." Jisung takes his eyes off of the screen too (which makes Jaemin whine louder since he tried to get his attention too earlier) and looks at the thing Chenle is hiding behind his back. "What are you holding?" he asks. Chenle's big grin grew even larger (it scared Renjun a bit if he was honest) and turns to Renjun. "I brought something from your dorm to make sure you aren't lonely!" </p><p>"Please be a copy of Renjun's unfinished Moomin painting" Donghyuck says, closing his eyes and crossing his fingers. Renjun throws a crumpled up sandwich wrap from his tray. "Please tell me you didn't. I will yeet you and Donghyuck out of that window" Renjun says. "You're not supposed to get out of the bed though~~" Donghyuck sing songs. Renjun throws Jaemin's empty blood sauce container at him. "Nope! It's not the painting!" Chenle says. He then brings out a familiar emotionless brown bear from his back. "I brought Nana!" </p><p>Jaemin stops playing with Renjun's fingers. He slowly looks at the bear that Chenle's holding, then turns to Renjun. Renjun doesn't acknowledge him and laughs nervously. "T-thank you, Zhong Chenle! Uh, you can uh just put... Nana.. with uh.." He looks at the area around him, then points to Jisung. "Jisung! He's lonely!" he turns to Jisung. "Say that you're lonely" he whispers. Jisung only sighs and gets up from his chair and walks over to Chenle. He takes the bear and walks back and places it on the chair. "Or you can do that" Renjun says. </p><p>The group shares glances with each other. Jaemin looks at Jeno for some answers. Jeno just shrugs, his face also holding a confused expression. "Well, I'm stuffed" Donghyuck says. He gets up from his chair and starts to pick up the trash around him. "Hyung, can you get Renjun's and Jaemin's stuff too" he says. Mark nods and goes to collect their trash. "We're going to go to the spirit lab for a while and check on some of the spirits" Jeno says while Markhyuck are cleaning. "Do we all have to go?" Chenle asks. Jeno opens his mouth then eyes Jaemin. The latter was focused on Renjun's fingers again. "Yeah, we do.. but I gotta ask Doyoung hyung about Jaemin again." Chenle sighs and walks with Jisung to the door. Mark and Donghyuck join them after gathering the trash. "We'll be back!" Donghyuck announces and walks out with the rest of the group and closes the door. </p><p>Once the door closed, it was dead silent. Renjun gulps at the awkward tension, trying to watch whatever was happening on the TV (apparently Jisung was watching a marathon of Dooly which is something Renjun finds adorable). A few moments pass by before Jaemin asks; "Why did you name that bear Nana?" </p><p>Renjun bites his lip. He laughs nervously again and turns to Jaemin. He gets startled to see that the latter was no longer was playing his with fingers and were staring at him dead straight in the eyes. </p><p>Here we go lads. </p><p>Renjun sighs and turns off the TV. He takes and holds Jaemin's hands with his own. "This is going to be a long story so.. hang on tight." Jaemin nods. "We got all day" he deadpans. Renjun gulps again and looks at his and Jaemin's conjoined hands. Then he starts talking. </p><p>"Around the time we opened up to each other in uni, I started getting these dreams of a forest and a little boy named Nana." He looks up at Jaemin. He could tell that the latter was trying very hard to contain his surprise. Renjun continues. "At first, I didn't really think much of them. I thought they were just random dreams my brain likes to play every once and a while." He pauses, to think, then continues. "When I got unconscious, I started seeing the same forest, but it was on fire. I saw everything was burning down, animals were dying, and there was this big fire spirit coming at me." </p><p>"But, then.. It just stops? Like suddenly the forest wasn't on fire anymore and instead it was normal. Then I see the boy again. I don't know how, but I recognized him as Nana."  Jaemin accidentally squeezes Renjun's hand when he hears the name "Nana." Renjun ignores it though and continues. "He comforted me, telling me that it was going to be ok. Then everything went to black and suddenly..I'm in my family's car in Seoul on a way to a camping trip." </p><p>Renjun pauses again and hesitates. By now, he knows that the memory he witnessed was not a dream. It was a real memory. He knew by now that Renjun met Jaemin when they were younger. However, he isn't sure that if he's ready to tell Jaemin that he knows. </p><p>He doesn't really know why though. </p><p>"Do..Do you.. Remember?" Jaemin whispers. Renjun looks at Jaemin. His eyes were watery, and wide. It looked like he stop trying to hide his shock. "Do.. you remember when we.. we.." Renjun nods and smiles. He lifts a hand and caresses Jaemin's face. "I remember meeting a little boy who was able to turn into a wolf and dog. He told me to get a shiba inu just like him, and introduced me to different flowers and trees when we were together. I would sneak out every night to go see him in the forest and play." Renjun pauses, getting the feeling that he's gonna cry too. He sighs and continues, his voice about to break. "Then.. we got separated because I got caught. Then.. the boy got caught in a fire and. he" </p><p>Jaemin gets up and sits on the edge of Renjun's bed and hugs him. Renjun stops and chuckles. "Thanks for cutting me off at that part" he whispers. He buries his head in the crook of Jaemin's neck and wraps his arm around the other. Both of them let their tears out from their eyes. They hold each other tightly, not wanting to let go. Then Jaemin takes his head off of Renjun's shoulder and looks at his face. His eyes were filled with tears, but his face was joyful. He laughs then sniffs. "I missed you Injun" Jaemin whispers. Renjun laughs. "I missed you too.. Nana" </p><p>They hold their stare in silence for a moment. Then, Jaemin starts to inch slowly towards Renjun, the latter closing his eyes.</p><p>Their faces get closer, and closer until finally..their lips touch. </p><p>It wasn't a wild kiss. It was quite chaste, and gentle. They hold it for while until Jaemin lets go and leans back. He smiles while looks at Renjun face. Renjun smiles back and caresses Jaemin's hand with his thumb. </p><p>"You know" Jaemin starts. "I liked you for a while." </p><p>"I know" Renjun answers. "I like you too." </p><p>"I know" Jaemin whispers. Renjun giggles, making the hybrid smile wider. "Well, well, well, we both like each other" Renjun says. He leans in and pecks Jaemin once more. "What does that make us?" he whispers once he lets go.  Jaemin tilts his head. "I guess.. that makes us boyfriends.. correct?" Renjun nods. Jaemin chuckles, then kisses Renjun once more. This time it was stronger then the first, but still perfect. </p><p>Donghyuck screamed in joy when the group heard the news. Something around the lines of: "FUCKING FINALLY, I HAD WATCHED YOU GUYS STARE AT EACH OTHER FOR 3 FUCKING YEARS!!" </p><p>So yeah, Renjun and Jaemin are together; from the mall a couple of days ago being with them.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>AND THEY KISSED </p><p>But it's not over </p><p>hehehehehehehehehehhe</p><p>Note: Renjun answers 2022 in his test with Doyoung because in the story, the year is 2022. He did not loose memory of the year ^^</p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0033"><h2>33. 18. Saving Lee Taeyong</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The mission on saving Lee Taeyong begins!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heller~</p><p>This is going to be the first chapter of a 5 part mission the group is going to be going through, hehe </p><p>Hope you guys enjoy this one!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A few weeks pass by after Renjun's discharge from the hospital. School starts up again, beginning Jisung's sophomore year, Chenle's junior year, Mark's first year in medical school, and Renjun's, Jaemin's, Donghyuck's, and Jeno's senior and final year at university. </p><p>They grow up so fast. </p><p>Life had gone back to the way it was before the whole District U mishap. Donghyuck became the team leader for the swim team, Jisung starts to complain about school work again (even though the boy manages to handle it no problem), Mark begins wearing hospital scrubs on a daily basis, Chenle starts to teach both Korean and elemental structures to both Chinese speaking students and fellow leprechauns ("babies" is what he likes to call them) at the tutoring center, and Jeno joins the basketball team for no particular reason. He was just bored. </p><p>Oh and Renjun and Jaemin are a thing now I guess. </p><p>Yeah, it was strange to Renjun too. One moment he and Jaemin were barely talking to each other, and the next moment he's watching him trying to grab a bunny doll from a claw machine on their date while almost crying. </p><p>"Jaem, please stop you're gonna go broke." Jaemin sighs in defeat and bumps his head against the glass of the machine. He looks at Renjun and pouts. "Then can you get it for me?" he asks, bottom lip jutting out. Renjun rolls his eyes, but takes out a quarter anyways. He puts it in, and guides the claw to the small bunny doll that have been dragged against its fellow stuffed animals for the past 3 minutes. </p><p>To his surprise, Renjun was actually able to pick it up and get it for Jaemin. "WOAH!! I didn't actually think you'd get it! You're pretty sucky with arcade games you know." Renjun looks at the taller and narrows his eyes. "I can ask the arcade employees to put this dude back into the machine" he threatens. Jaemin stops smirking and begins to shake his head like a kid who's about to throw a tantrum. "No, no! I'll shut up! Thank you luv!" he says as he pecks Renjun on the forehead. The human giggles and gets up with the rabbit doll in his hand. "Here you go pup" he laughs as he hands it over to Jaemin. The latter's eyes brightens and happily accepts the doll from his boyfriend and gives him a big hug. "Come on! I'll treat you to some ice cream as a thank you" Jaemin says in a excited tone. Renjun smiles brightly and nods his head, walking with Jaemin's arm over his waist. </p><p>Ever since they started dating, Jaemin had been more hyper to not only Renjun, but to the rest of their friend group. At first, it was odd, considering Jaemin only acts like this when he's high on coffee (which is most of the time if Renjun's being honest). Though slowly, the group got used to it which in turn made everyone else even more hyper and loud. </p><p>It wasn't a problem though. It made Renjun super happy to see his friends in a good mood 24/7. </p><p>There was one concern though. Renjun hadn't really taken his mind off of it. </p><p>One day after class, the group had gone back to District U to visit Taeil in the flower shop. He wanted to apologize for sending them into District U earlier, and was especially worried for Renjun. "It's ok hyung, I'm ok" he laughs when Taeil was squeezing his hands in concern. The dragon sighed and sits down on a chair on the patio. "That was the most stupid decision I have ever made" he groans. "How could I let you guys go there?! You didn't even know how to use most of your tools yet." Donghyuck and Jisung share glances and look back at Taeil. "It's fine hyung really." Jaemin says, comforting the older. Taeil looks up at Jaemin and raises an eyebrow. "You out of all the people here should be the one yelling at me" he says. The hybrid tilts his head. "Why?" he asks. Taeil stares at Jaemin with disbelief. </p><p>"Don't get me wrong hyung-" Jaemin's face was more serious, his sympathetic smile had faltered a bit. "-I'm not happy that you sent my friends into abandoned area. However, I know that you were trying to have them get used to it, and since they do now, it'll be much more easier for them to navigate when we go back in there again when it's time." </p><p>"Hold up sis" Donghyuck interrupts. "What do you mean "them" and "they." Have you been in the abandoned area before??" Jaemin turns around and faces his friends. "Yes" he says with a straight face. "I've been there quite often." </p><p>Now that's not the problem Renjun's concerned about. Sure, Jaemin saying that is a bit weird. That's not really the main thing on Renjun's mind (surprisingly) cause the problem he's worried about is much more weirder then that. </p><p>After a full length discussion, Taeil and the group decided it would be best for the group to get used to using their tools and study the abandoned area first, before stepping their foot back onto the dusty roads again. "I'll call up Doyoung to discuss when it's a good time for you guys to train. I advise to train in District 127 with him since it'll be a handful to go back and forth when you need to catch spirits." </p><p>Perfect, they can still receive training from a spiritual being while also not having the worry of going back to District 127 to work on spirit stuff. They go back to the hospital after talking with Taeil to work on said spirit stuff. </p><p>They leave Mark's car, then go to the lobby. In the elevator, Mark presses the number 27 on its panel of infinite buttons. They walk out, Mark goes to the cardiovascular ward to get some of his internship hours in first, and the rest go to the lab. Donghyuck, Chenle, and Jisung go into the containment room to check on the spirits and how they are doing. Renjun, Jaemin, and Jeno go to Doyoung's office to check in for everyone. </p><p>Jeno knocks on the closed office door (which is usually open). "Hyung? We're here!" he yells. No answer, a bit weird, but that's ok. Jeno knocks again. "Hyung? Dr. Kim?" Again no answer, now Renjun's a bit concerned. Jeno knocks a third time, but when there's no answer again, Jaemin takes the initiative and tries to turn the knob. The door was unlocked. He opens it slowly and pokes his head in. "What the fuck" he whispers. He opens the door fully and lets Renjun and Jeno see what was inside. Their eyes widen at the mess the office was in. The coffee table the group likes to take breaks on was flipped upside down, and there were papers on the floor. Doyoung's desk was on its side and a bookshelf had fallen. </p><p>What made this scene even worse was the bits of ice on the wall and burnt marks on the small counter in the back of the room. "Is hyung here? I think Hyunjoo is ready to be revived-" The trio turn and see Donghyuck, mouth agape at the office. Jisung and Chenle come trailing behind him and becomes stunned at the same image in front of them. Renjun says to Donghyuck, "To answer your question Hyuck..No, he's not here, but I think-" he points to the ice on the wall. "-I can get a good guess on WHO was here." </p><p>The group leaves the spirit lab and into the cardiovascular ward. "The nurses said that Doyoung hyung had taken a break from work for a week just a day ago" Mark says putting away a clipboard. "I asked them why and they told me they didn't know." </p><p>Doyoung's office, the ghost's sudden disappearance, both has been on Renjun's mind for a entire week. He snaps out of it when Jaemin taps on his shoulder. "Are you ok? Do you not like the ice cream?  I can get you a new one if you want." Renjun smiles and shakes his head. "No, no, the ice cream is really good, I'm just worried about Doyoung hyung." Jaemin's face drops at the mention of Doyoung. He sighs and hugs his bunny doll tighter. "I am too. He never just leaves out of the blue like that. When I used to live with him, he'd always tell me when he's leaving and where he's going." Renjun looks up at Jaemin. The latter was staring at the sidewalk, playing with a leaf with his feet. "He's pretty much..like your older brother huh?" he asks. Jaemin nods. "I've known him my entire life, so it's strange to see him act like this."</p><p>After they get back home from their date, Renjun and Jaemin get a knock on the door. They open it and see a determined Donghyuck and a tired Jeno. The merman puffs his chest and begins to shout in the middle of the hallway at 10 at night about Jeno's missing notebook. "Ok, ok, can you shout in the room and NOT in the middle of the hallway when people are sleeping?" Renjun whisper shouts. Jaemin in turn, pulls Jeno and Donghyuck into the room and closes the door. Pangxie greets the pair by giving them each a seashell, then goes back to playing playing on pile of sand on a beach towel with a bowl of water next her. "When did you do that?" Jeno asks, looking at the mini beach sitting next to the couch. "Two days ago, we wanted to make it up to Pangxie for being gone for so long" Renjun answers. The four stares at the crab playing with her shells and placing them into the bowl of water before getting in herself. Donghyuck clears his throat. "As I was saying, Jeno's lovely notebook that is filled with choreography for the dance team is missing and it is up to us to find it!" </p><p>"No it's not" Jeno says. Donghyuck turns his head towards his roommate and raises an eyebrow. "So do you not want to look for it?" he asks. "Can't we just look for it in the morning? I was literally about to go to the bathroom and brush my teeth" Renjun groans. Donghyuck turns to Renjun. "Before or after you made out with Jaemin?" he asks, smirking. "Before" Jaemin answers, ignoring Renjun's confused squwak. "Why do you want to look for it now?" he asks. Donghyuck crosses his arms, still holding the smirk on his face. "Think about it my dudes. This is our last year being college students. Might as well do everything before we graduate and become actual meaningless adults." </p><p>I mean he does have a point. </p><p>Somehow convinced, Renjun and Jaemin drop off Pangxie into her tank to let her eat and play around some more. "Here wear this" Donghyuck says, passing some black caps to them. "Are we legit gonna sneak around campus like this??" Renjun asks. "Why not, you came home one time after 10" Jaemin deadpans. Donghyuck snickers while Renjun glares at the hybrid. "Touche Na Jaemin, touche." After putting on their "A+ disguises" as Donghyuck had described them, the group starts walking to the elevators. "Where did you last see your notebook?" Renjun asks. "Probably in the gym or the dance practice room" Jeno says. The elevator doors open, and lets the group climb in. "Are we allowed to go into the classrooms this late though?" Jeno asks once the elevator starts to go down a floor. "I dunno, I don't think people care though." Donghyuck responds. </p><p>"Wait then why do we need caps?" </p><p>"To make it spicy duh." </p><p>They get to the lobby and quietly walk past the security guard who looks at them strangely, but goes back to his own business cause like Donghyuck had said, he did not care that much on where they were going. </p><p>"Ok, where should we check first?" Jaemin asks, putting his hands on his hips. Jeno thinks, then points to where the school's dance rooms are. "Let's go there first, I guarantee that it's gonna be in there." </p><p>So they went. Once they get to the musical arts building, they walk up to the gigantic gates that closed off the rest of the rooms. "Does anyone know how to lockpick?" Donghyuck asks. "Renjun does" Jaemin says. Renjun digs through his pocket for something to pick the lock with. "Shoot, I don't suppose that any of y'all have a paper clip or a hair pin on you?" His friends shake their head. "What are we going to do?" Jeno asks Donghyuck. Donghyuck thinks for a moment, then gives his roommate a evil smile. "Let's steal one from Professor Qian." </p><p>Renjun groans. "We just went to the other side of campus, do we really have to go back for a paperclip?" Donghyuck glares at the human. "Look, the human major professors are more scarier then the magic ones. Plus this is essential for our mission, I'm sure Professor doesn't mind." Jeno and Jaemin share glances then shrug their shoulders. Renjun sighs then gives his blessing to sneak into the Hall of Magic. </p><p>They didn't expect the building to have its gate open, nor did they expect to see the light on in Professor Qian's classroom. "Shit, let's go sneak into Coach's office, I'm sure he doesn't care" Jaemin whispers. "I saw your guy's coach's desk, there is no way we're gonna find a paper clip in there, it's like finding a needle in a haystack" Donghyuck says. He gestures for the others follow him, which they reluctantly did. "This is stupid" Renjun complains. Donghyuck ignores him and hugs the wall next to the door of Professor Qian's classroom. He tells the other three to stay there. He sneaks up to the door and slowly rises to take a peak through the window of the door. He gasps, covering his mouth, and immediately crouches down. "What? What happened?" Renjun asks, a little concerned at Donghyuck's reaction. Donghyuck slowly brings a finger to point at the door right in front of him. "I think.." he starts, in a whispered tone. "...I found Doyoung hyung." </p><p>"WHAT!" Jaemin shouts, not caring about being secretive. He gets up, Donghyuck moving out of the way, and peaks into the window of the door. When he sees what he sees, he tries to jiggle the doorknob open and repeatedly pounds on the door. "HYUNG!" He shouts. Renjun, Jeno, and Donghyuck gets up when the door opens. A tired Professor Qian pokes his head out of the classroom, his eyes widen. "What are you guys doing this late at night??" he whisper shouts. "Why is hyung like that?" Jaemin asks him. Renjun walks up to Jaemin and moves him further back from the doorway. He gasps when he sees Doyoung leaning against the platform Professor Qian uses, bloody and barely alive. Jeno and Donghyuck run up behind the couple at look at Professor Qian for some answers. The wizard only sighs and tells them to come into the classroom. "Renjun help me make a healing potion, he's a ghost so we need to be extra careful. The rest of you take care of him while we make it" he instructs. </p><p>The group nods. Professor Qian lets them in, Jaemin immediately going to Doyoung. "Hyung! Hyung!" he says, shaking the older. "Jaem don't shake him too much" Jeno says. "Should I call Mark hyung? I'm sure he knows some thing or two about ghost anatomy" Donghyuck says. "No need. Ghosts need spiritual healing, not physical" Professor Qian says. Renjun joins him at the desks that are usually used for students. There are supplies after supplies of potion making ingredients laid out in front of them. A book was opened to a page for a potion, specified to heal ghosts through spiritual revival. "Can you grow a Moon Cherry Blossom in that pot over there? Bring it to the moonlight so it can grow better." Renjun looks to where Professor Qian was pointing at. It was a pot with a tailsman stuck onto it, so the flower can grow faster. Renjun takes the pot and runs over to the window. He closes his eyes and situates his hands over the pot. Green orbs start to rise from the soil, bringing a stem then a flower head out from the dirt. Renjun concentrates in trying to create a flower that has a great amount of energy so that Professor Qian can use it. Once he is done, a pink glowing flower stood proudly in the pot. It stretches as it has awoken and looks up at Renjun. The human looks down at the flower and smiles. "Do you see that ghost over there?" he whispers, pointing to Doyoung, who is now laying on Jaemin's lap. The flower looks at the doctor, then at Renjun. It nods. "We need your help, can you do this for us?" Renjun asks. The flower thinks for a bit, then nods. Renjun smiles and picks up the pot. "Thank you" he whispers. Renjun takes the pot to the desks, and gives it to Professor Qian who smiles at the flower. "Thank you for helping us" he smiles. Renjun looks away when Professor Qian cuts off the head of the flower. "Renjun, prepare the water please" he says. Renjun nods and takes the bowl from the desk and to the sink at the back of the classroom. He comes back and places it in front of Professor Qian. </p><p>Renjun has never prepared a spiritual healing potion before. He had heard of them, but never made one himself. He watches closely as Professor Qian places the head of the flower into the bowl, making the water glow pink. Then, he pours in the nectar of a tree, and begins to stir it. The liquid then changes from a glowing pink to a bright light blue. "Guys move" Professor Qian calls out. Donghyuck and Jeno stop patting the blood from Doyoung's face and move away. Jaemin stays still and watches Professor Qian come over with the bowl. "Hold him steady Jaemin" the Professor instructs. He then opens Doyoung's mouth and pours the liquid in. After he is down he sets the bowl down and checks his pulse. He sighs in relief. "Thank goodness, his spiritual energy is coming back up fast. That's a ghost alright." </p><p>"What happened?" Renjun asks. Professor Qian sighs again and stands up from the ground. "I was walking back from the convenience store after grabbing some dinner to eat here so I can work on some papers in the classroom when I found Doyoung wobbling around the university. I took him back here so I can try heal him with the potion, but I had to get nectar from a tree with great spiritual energy to make it so I had quickly ran to the tree in the courtyard here in the Hall of Magic. He was somewhat conscious when I found him, but when I came back he fainted. Thankfully you boys came here just in time when I was preparing the potion. Without Renjun, I don't think I would've had time to grow a Moon Cherry Blossom." Just as Professor Qian had finished, Doyoung suddenly starts to cough. "Hyung!" Jaemin calls out. Doyoung tries to get up from Jaemin's lap, the latter helping him, and leans against the platform. "Ugh" he groans. "Hyung! Are you ok? Did you come to your senses?" Jaemin asks. Doyoung slowly opens his eyes, then turns to Jaemin, who was kneeling right next to him. He smiles and pats Jaemin on the head. "Yes..I did" he manages to croak out. He closes his eyes and groans again. "Why is it so bright in here." </p><p>"You're in Professor Qian's classroom hyung" Jeno says. "Ah" Doyoung says in response and opens his eyes again. He looks at Jeno and Donghyuck, then at Professor Qian and Renjun, the latter looking a little angry. "Hyung" Renjun starts. "Where did you go? Why didn't you tell us you were going to be gone? Why was your office messed up?!-" </p><p>"Injun" Jaemin whispers. Renjun turns to the hybrid and immediately softens. He sighs and sits down in front of Doyoung. "Sorry, we were really worried about you..especially Jaemin." Jaemin gives a look at the human, but turns back to his hyung when Doyoung starts to chuckle. "Sorry about that guys..and thank you for saving me." He looks up at Professor Qian, who crossed his arms and was waiting for some sort of story. "Kim Dongyoung" Professor Qian scolds. "Qian Kun" Doyoung says back. "Woah, sassy Doyoung hyung emerges!" Donghyuck exclaims. Renjun smacks him on the shoulder and waits for Doyoung to say something. Doyoung chuckles again. "Fine, I'll tell you guys what happen, let me just catch my breath first." </p><p>Professor Qian tells Jaemin and Renjun to guide Doyoung to the desks so Doyoung can sit comfortably. When Doyoung sits down, he waits for a moment to gather his thoughts, then looks up at the 5 people who were boring their eyes onto him. "Do you guys know of the big forest fire that happened back in 2005 at the Seoul Grand Park Campground?" Renjun and Jaemin share glances, but don't say anything else. "Yeah, I heard that was started by a bunch of fire spirits" Jeno says. Doyoung nods. "It was." he replies. "At the time, I was working with Taeil hyung and other people to combat against any elemental spirits that were under the control of the Dok Zuzhi." Renjun furrows his eyebrows. "The Dok Zuzhi? The same ones in the abandoned area?" he asks. Doyoung nods his head again. "Your professor took part in combating too. That's why we're good friends." The boys look at Professor Qian. The wizard only nods in silence as confirmation. "Wait so was the fire started by the Dok Zuzhi?" Donghyuck asks. "Yup" Doyoung answers. "Do you know why?" Jeno asks. Doyoung doesn't answer and quickly eyes Jaemin, who only stands there in silence. "No" the ghost says. "During that fire, I had lost someone very dear to me." Doyoung says, moving on further into the story. "He was a human. He lost his life in the fire and became a fire spirit." Professor Qian's eyes widen. "Don't tell me.." he says. Doyoung turns the Professor and presses his lips together. He turns back to the boys. </p><p>"He name was Lee Taeyong. He was shot by a fire spirit that we were fighting and had died by the time I got to his body" Doyoung explains. Renjun notices Jaemin's eyes grow wide through the corner of his eye. He discretely holds the hybrid's hand as a way to comfort him.  The other responds by squeezing it. Doyoung pauses, and looks down. "I..couldn't save him. There were no Moon Cherry Blossoms nearby, and his spirit level was drained" he tells the boys in a low tone. Professor lays a comforting hand on Doyoung's shoulder and crouches down. "We couldn't have done anything anyway. He was away from us and-" </p><p>"I could've teleported to him Kun. I could've sensed him too." Doyoung looks up to his friend. "He's my soulmate for god's sake." Professor Qian gives Doyoung a small smile. "You know him. He doesn't want you to know if he's hurt or not" Professor Qian whispered. Doyoung's eyes become glassy from hearing that sentence he looks down and squeezes his hands into fists. </p><p>"Hyung" Jaemin says, breaking the silence. Doyoung looks up, eyes still filled with tears. "So..is Taeyong hyung..here?" Jaemin asks. Doyoung looks back down and sighs. "Yes, and that's why I had to leave so quickly, and why my office was such a mess." Doyoung answers. The ghost adjusts himself. Renjun can see that the cuts on his face are almost gone. His spirit level is coming back to its original amount. Doyoung looks at the boys and Professor Qian. "Ok.." he starts. "Long story short, the spirits under control of the Dok ZuZhi had come and crashed into my office. One of the members of the organization had told me to come with him or consider Taeyong gone. I did, and hastily told my nurses that I was taking break. That's why I never told you guys." He stops and looks at Jaemin. "I'm really sorry Jaemin, you know how much Taeyong means to me." The hybrid doesn't answer verbally, and gestures for Doyoung to move on. </p><p>"The spirits and the agents took me to the DokZuZhi HQ. They showed me Taeyong's spirit all caged up and told me they will give me his spirit to revive if I were to do one thing." Doyoung stops again. "What was that thing?" Jeno asks. Professor Qian looks down at the floor to think. Then he eyes the four boys. "No way.." he murmurs. He turns to Doyoung. "They didn't tell you to.." he says. Doyoung nods. "They told me to give you boys in to trade with Taeyong." </p><p>The boy's jaws drop. "Wait how did they know about them? They never interacted with each other!" Professor Qian asks in a concerned tone. Doyoung doesn't answer and continues with the story. "So I told them no, and tried to open Taeyong's cage, but their spirits attacked me before I could do so. Next thing I know, I'm fighting a bunch of spirits and agents, and then after that I'm knocked unconscious and left in Cherry Park." </p><p>"They..didn't try to throw you into a prison or something?" Renjun asks. If they wanted Doyoung to give Renjun and his friends up, they would've held him hostage and lure the boys into their headquarters. That's usually the case right? "They don't throw people into their prisons unless they are really valuable to them. To the agents, Doyoung was merely a messenger boy who didn't follow their instructions." Professor Qian explains. "Then..why didn't they kill him?" Jeno asks carefully. "Because you can't kill a ghost without being haunted by their vengeful spirit. It's better for them to knock me out with poisonous gas and make me forget where their headquarters is" Doyoung answers. The doctor sighs and closes his eyes. "Listen" </p><p>"I know you boys" he says. He opens his eyes and stares at them with a strict glare. "Do not, and I mean do NOT go into District U to get Taeyong. I will try figure something out with Kun and Taeil hyung so you boys just focus on spirit revivals." </p><p>"But-" </p><p>"No buts! This is very serious and considering the last time you were in their territory, I can say for sure you guys are not ready to fight these agents" Doyoung says. The doctor scans the looks on the boy's faces. "Do not talk about this again with anyone, even with the rest of your group. Don't even think about this moment. Just go back to your dorms." The group share glances with each other. Then, they looked at Professor Qian. "It's for the best guys" he says, his tone gentle yet stern. "Donghyuck, I'm sure you know how to revive spirits by now. You can teach Chenle and Jisung how. As for the rest of you, just do your job peacefully" Doyoung says. "Please..I don't want to loose you guys too." He turns to Jaemin. "Especially you Jaemin." Jaemin avoids eye contact by looking at the floor. "Go to sleep guys it's late" Professor Qian says. </p><p>The group shares one more glance before bowing and leaving the classroom. Renjun waits for Jaemin who is sharing a few words with Doyoung and Professor Qian. "What's he doing?" Donghyuck whispers. Renjun narrows his eyes at the three at the desks. Behind him, Jaemin raises a OK sign with his hand towards the doorway. </p><p>"Gathering info" Renjun answers back. </p><p>After they leave the classroom, they would go back to the dorms, notebook forgotten. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun and Jaemin don't talk to each other about what had happened that night the next day. But they knew one thing. </p><p>They're going to District U.</p><p>Now, I know what you're thinking. A. That's stupid, B. Renjun literally just almost died the last time they were there, and C. the group doesn't know the fuck they're doing. </p><p>They know that, they are aware. </p><p>But when a spirit is currently being kept hostage by a organization that likes to mess with elemental spirits, they can't help but try to save him. </p><p>Especially, when the spirit is being held for ransom. That ransom being the boys themselves.</p><p>So after class and their shift at the spirit lab, the whole group, including Mark, Chenle, and Jisung, went back to Renjun's and Jaemin's dorm to create a plan. </p><p>At first, they just sat in complete silence. Honestly, when there's a situation like this what do you do? </p><p>"Jaem-" Jeno starts ("thank god, it was getting really awkward" Renjun thinks). Jaemin turns his attention to Jeno. "-What did you ask Doyoung hyung last night?" the wolf asks. Jaemin takes a moment to recollect his memory then answers. "I asked him two things. 1. 'Were you able to get out safely in Cherry Park', and 2. 'How tall was Taeyong hyung.'" Donghyuck raises an eyebrow. "'How tall was Taeyong hyung?' What kind of question is that?" he asks. Jaemin gets up and goes to his room. He comes out with a large white board and places it in front of the TV (Renjun till this day still does not know where this man gets his white boards from). The hybrid then starts to write down the questions he asked the ghost, and what answer he had gotten. "Doyoung hyung had answered the first question with 'I was safe, but it was really dark so I couldn't see.' Usually, Cherry Park has lamps on throughout the whole night until 6AM, so Doyoung hyung could've had seen easily." </p><p>"That's true" Renjun says. "And it was around 11 or 12 at night when we saw Doyoung hyung, and he had to get to the classroom earlier then that." Jaemin nods and holds up a 2 with his hand. "For the second question, hyung answered that Taeyong hyung was 174 cm (5'9). The height of a elemental spirit is 140 centimetres less from when they were alive, so that means that Taeyong hyung right now is 34 cm (about 1 foot). With that, we know where to start looking for clues and how big Taeyong hyung is." </p><p>"Wow" Jisung says. "You're a genius hyung" he says, giving out two thumbs up. Jaemin smirks and gives a thumbs up back. "Of course I am! I'm Na Jaemin!" Renjun rolls his eyes and takes out one of Jaemin's books. This book has every map to exist of Neo City from the second World War to present time. He flips to the last page to the current map and squints, looking at every detail of the map of Cherry Park. "A place that is dark within Cherry Park, now that's just impossible" Mark says. "The city makes sure to place lamps every where so people don't have to run into each other" he explains. </p><p>Thinking, Jeno eyes the map Renjun is intently searching through. Then he realizes something. "No, there IS a place with no light" he says. The group turns to him. "There is?" Chenle asks. "There is! Remember where Renjun found Dohyun's body? That place is dark and had been unkept for years!" Jeno answers. Renjun thinks back to when they were chasing Dohyun as a plant spirit. Jeno was right, that place was completely hidden from the public. There were vines and branches on the floor and the trees barely let the moon shine through their leaves. He remembers what the place looked like, but he couldn't pinpoint where it exactly was within the park as he had just followed Dohyun blindly through the park. "I forgot where exactly that place is, but I'm sure we can ask Detective Jung for information. They must have some case files somewhere since a dead body was found" he says. </p><p>"We also gotta figure out what Lee Taeyong looks like. If we're searching this area, we gotta keep a look out for him" Mark says. The group stays silent for a while before Donghyuck snaps his fingers. "Jaemin, how tall did you say Lee Taeyong must be?" he asks, pointing his finger at the hybrid. "About 34 cm" Jaemin answers. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Flamieo is around that height, if not maybe a bit smaller" he says with a smile. "But the average height for most elemental spirits are around 34 cm" Jeno says. Donghyuck thinks for a bit, then claps his hands. "But what about that other fire spirit Renjun poked with a tree branch back at the hospital? That dude was huge!" </p><p>"That wasn't a regular spirit. Plus, I think that one belonged to the Dok ZuZhi. Their spirits are usually about that size" Renjun answers. He closes the book, and takes out Jaemin's elemental spirit psychology book. "What are you doing?" Chenle asks. "I'm looking up the behavior of average fire spirits. Donghyuck's theory might be off, but I do believe he is right about one thing." Jeno tilts his head. "How so?" he asks. Renjun finally finds the section on fire spirits and quickly reads off a excerpt from the introductory page. "'Fire spirits are usually known to be aggressive, as they had died from a slow and painful death. They will often act out of anger, and will fight off anything that it sees as a threat.'" After he's done reading, Renjun leans back against the couch and taps on the page. "Now, does that sound ANYTHING like Flameio?" The group shakes their head. "When you think about it, Flameio is a bit weaker then other fire spirits. He doesn't even catch things on fire most of the time, he just likes to fly around the city" Mark says. "It also doesn't make sense for FIRE spirit to be caught in a cage. Usually, they would burn their captors or even melt the cage down if possible" Renjun notes after. </p><p>Jaemin nods, then erases the board. "Alright guys, let's brainstorm, what's step 1 of our plan?" </p><p>.</p><p>Detective Jung stares dumbfounded at the trio in front of him. "Wait sorry, say that again? I think I lost you after doughnut cat" he says. Renjun glares at Donghyuck for giving a weird story when Detective Jung asked them why they needed the Cherry Park case files. They had came to the police station to attempt to grab some information as to where the place with no lights is in the park. "Don't mind him Detective, the reason is a bit confidential so we can't exactly tell you" Renjun says, hoping the Detective can understand. Detective Jung only sighs and closes his notebook. "Sorry boys, I can't give you any information about any of our past cases without a proper reasons. It's against city law" he explains. "Crap" Renjun thinks. "Is this for a spirit revival case? I can't give you the case file directly to you since you guys are assistants, but I can give it to Doyoung hyu-" </p><p>"NO!!" Renjun, Donghyuck, and Jeno yell in unison. The whole station gives them a glance, before going back to what they were doing. "Ah hahaha" Jeno laughs nervously. "That uh, won't be necessary. Hyung's been busy doing a lot of...doctor stuff so we can't exactly bother him." Detective Jung raises an eyebrow, but only shakes his head. "Sorry guys, my hands are tied." </p><p>"Thank you anyway Detective Jung. Have a nice day!" Renjun says. He gestures Donghyuck and Jeno to say good bye, then walks with them to the exit. "Now what? Also really? Jasper the sloth? Do you really have to bring out your childhood cartoon into the story?" Renjun says once they are away from the station. "Hey! That was pure improv right there. You normies won't understand us theater kids" he huffs. Renjun rolls his eyes and turns to Jeno. "Any ideas?" Jeno gives a nervous look to the human and merman. "I was kinda hoping that we were going to get the info at the police station so I didn't mention this but.." </p><p>They stop at a traffic light and wait for the cars to pass through the street. "But??" Donghyuck asks. Jeno sighs then plays with his fingers. "We could...ask Dohyun..where..it is.." he mumbles. </p><p>Ah, no wonder he didn't mention that method last night. </p><p>It's encouraged to not ask someone where they traumatically died. </p><p>The light changes to green. The trio crosses the street and start walking back to the dorms. "I guess we have no choice. As rude as it may be, we're gonna have to ask" Renjun says. "Yeah, asking a loaded question is less worrisome then saving a person's life" Donghyuck says. They stop when Jeno stops. "What's wrong?" Renjun asks. "You could've said earlier so we went in the right direction!" Jeno whines. Donghyuck and Renjun share glances and then give a confused look to Jeno. "Why? There's literally a bus stop in front of school" he says. "But the next bus to District U comes in a minute at that bus stop over there!" Jeno says calmly as he points to the opposite direction.</p><p>"WHAT!!" Renjun and Donghyuck say in unison. "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING AT THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS!?!?" </p><p>"YOU GUYS WERE STILL DECIDING WHETHER OR NOT TO GO, SO I WAS LIKE MAYBE DON'T SAY ANYTHING??" </p><p>"YEAH, BUT YOU COULD'VE- HEY!! LEE DONGHYUCK!! DON'T START RUNNING OFF WITHOUT US YOU BRAT!!!" </p><p>They missed the bus and had to walk all the way back to the University's bus stop. </p><p>.</p><p>"Jaemin, I'm gonna go to the cardiovascular ward for a bit" Doyoung says, putting away a clipboard. Jaemin closes the little door to a spirit's compartment after giving them some food. "Ok" he replies. Doyoung chuckles. "You always reply with 'ok', you know. Hurts me sometimes" the doctor jokes. The hybrid smiles at his hyung and walks into the room from the rows of spirit containers (Jaemin secretly calls them "spirit hotels"). "Sorry hyung, I meant have fun talking to Mrs. Oh again." He laughs when he sees the annoyed look on his adoptive brother's face. "Tell Chenle and Jisung I'm leaving for a while. I'll send Mark in a few minutes" he says. Jaemin nods then bids him good bye. Once he knows he's really gone, Jaemin walks out of the lab and into the revival room. Chenle and Jisung are currently training a spirit to get used to the revival machine. It's almost time for it to have its second life.</p><p>"Perfect! I'll make sure to tell Dr. Kim that you can become a human again next week! Are you excited Sungchan?" Chenle says with a smile. The little Earth spirit nods its head excitedly, spinning around in circles with joy. It makes Chenle laugh and Jisung chuckle. A big grin grows on Jaemin's face. In his opinion, the best part of being a revival assistant is seeing the excitement a spirit has before they're about to become human again. It makes him happy, to see them happy. </p><p>Jisung turns around and notices Jaemin smiling at them. He turns back and taps on Chenle's shoulder and points at Jaemin standing in the doorway. "Oh! Let's go Sungchan! I'll take you back to your compartment so you can play with Shotaro hyung!" The earth spirit spins again from the mention of his friend and flies up to a tube next to the revival machines on the wall. Chenle types in the earth spirit's room information and opens the door for the spirit so he can climb in. Once the earth spirit is in, Chenle waves him a good bye and presses a button, which opens a second door within the tube that leads back to the earth spirit's hotel room. The earth spirit waves good bye with his tail then zooms into his room. </p><p>After the earth spirit is gone, Chenle closes the second door and turns around. "Is he gone?" he asks Jaemin. The hybrid nods. "Mark hyung should be here any minute." </p><p>While Renjun's, Donghyuck's, and Jeno's job is to find where Doyoung was left behind when he was unconscious, Jaemin's, Mark's, Chenle's, and Jisung's job is to grab samples of the Dok ZuZhi's elemental spirits and study them to get a better idea as to what they are like. What better place to grab samples then the literal war zone that is Doyoung's office? </p><p>When Mark went into the spirit lab, they grabbed a pair of gloves each for themselves, and other supplies. They move to Doyoung's office, making sure the ghost wasn't there, and try to open the door. "It's locked" Jaemin says. "Dang, if only we had Renjun! He could've locked picked for us!" Mark exclaims. "R-Renjun hyung can lock pick?" Jisung asks, a bit scared. "Yeah, the most creepiest thing about him in my opinion" Jaemin says, staring at the doorknob." </p><p>"Dude, he's your boyfriend." </p><p>"Oh no don't get me wrong, he's quite adorable and endearing. It's just when you live with a lock picker, you don't know when he's gonna strike." </p><p>"Remind me to put a child lock or something on my door when he comes over" Jisung says to Chenle. Jaemin looks around the door for any other entry way, and sighs when he doesn't see a opportunity. "Chenle, you don't happen to know how to metalbend right?" Jaemin says. Chenle shakes his head. "No I don't, why?"</p><p>"I dunno, I saw earthbenders on Avatar the Last Airbender metalbending so I thought you could do the same" the hybrid deadpans. Mark opens his mouth to say something, but shakes his head instead. He thinks for a while then turns to Jaemin. "Are there any air vents in here?" he asks Jaemin. Jaemin nods and points to the one right above him. "Where does that lead to?" the vampire asks. "Into the office!" Jisung says. "I always sit under it when we're taking breaks! It's right above the counter."</p><p>Mark stands up, and asks Chenle to do the same. "Jisung, can you try blast a ice strike into the cover of the vent? I'll fly Chenle in his leprechaun form as a bat up there so he can climb through and open the door for us." Jisung gives Mark a unsure look. "I..don't think I can do that..Ice can't really be used as a strike like water can. If I try that, there's just gonna be a gigantic icicle sticking from the vent. Then it will be very cold" the fae explains. "Then maybe not a strike, but a sphere. Ice is a solid, so if you conduct a sphere to crash open the vent, then it's possible" Jaemin suggests. Jisung thinks then nods. He gets up from the ground and closes his eyes. </p><p>He brings his hands out and starts moving them to make a ice sphere. Then, when he had made the size he was satisfied with, he shoots it up into the vent with much force. The covering of the vent gets pushed against the ceiling of the air vent then crashes onto the ground when Jisung drops the sphere. "Woo! Go Jisung Park!!" Jaemin cheers. Mark turns into his bat form and lets Chenle  go onto his back in his leprechaun size. "Have your phone on you so we can guide you through the vents!" Jaemin says. Chenle gives a OK sign. Mark then flies Chenle up into the vent and let's him climb into the metal square tube. "I'll use a video call!" he shouts from the vent. "Good idea!" Jisung shouts back. Mark flies back down and turns back to his human form. Jaemin then starts a video call with Chenle, with the latter embarking his journey through the vents. </p><p>"Hyung?" </p><p>"Yeah?" </p><p>"How are we gonna put the lid back onto the vent again?" </p><p>"...Good question" </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun, Donghyuck, and Jeno in the meanwhile arrive at Jeno's pack's neighborhood. "I wonder how it's like for a elemental to live in a werewolf community" Renjun wonders out loud. "He actually adjusted pretty well from what I heard. Kyungmi likes to play with him a lot more then her actual siblings" Jeno laughs. They arrive at the Park's estate and rings the door bell. "Who's there?" a familiar voice says through the intercom. "Hey Taeseok hyung it's Jeno, and I'm here with Huang Renjun and Lee Donghyuck, you know the people from last time? Is Dohyun or Sungjoon here?" Jeno answers. A bit of silence, then Taeseok's voice comes through the intercom. "Yeah! They should be in Sungjoon's room. I'll be down to take you guys there" he says."Ok, thanks hyung!" Jeno says, then lifts his finger from the intercom button. "Who knew you would be calling one of the wolves you despised the most 'hyung.'" Donghyuck jokes. Jeno laughs. "Yeah, it's hard to believe myself sometimes." </p><p>Taeseok would come down and let the trio in. He takes them to Sungjoon's room through the twisted hallways of his family's estate, which still gives Renjun a headache to walk through. "What are you seeing Sungjoon and Dohyun for?" Taeseok asks. "Oh just some stuff for spirit revivals" Jeno answers. Taeseok makes a O with his mouth and nods, knowing not ask him much more details. Not because he getting a hint that the real reason why they're here is a secret, it's just that spirit revival is so detailed where it's to the point where the older wolf learned not to ask so Jeno doesn't end up in tears after explaining for the 10th time. </p><p>They arrive at Sungjoon's door a few minutes later (Renjun honestly thought it was 2 hours). Taeseok knocks on his younger brother's door. "Joon, Jeno and his friends are here to see you!" A bit of shuffling is heard from behind the door, then it opens revealing a young face peeking from behind. "Hyung? Hyungs?" Sungjoon says. Taeseok bids his good bye, and leaves Jeno and his friends with his younger brother. "What are you doing here?" Sungjoon asks, opening the door a little further. Little footsteps are heard running from behind Sungjoon. Kyungmi peeks her head out from her brother's leg and gasps. "Oppa!" she exclaims, and runs up to Jeno. The older chuckles and crouches down. "Hey Kyungmi! Are you doing well?" he asks with a eye smile. The little girl nods her head like a bobble head then looks up at Renjun and Donghyuck. She gasps again and points at them exclaiming, "Mermaid oppa and Flower Prince!!" Sungjoon snorts upon seeing Renjun's and Donghyuck's surprised reactions from the nicknames Kyungmi gave them. "Hey Kyungmi! Long time no see!" Renjun greets. Kyungmi waves, and takes out a iris flower from her pocket. "Look! Dohyun oppa gave this to me! It's pretty right?" Renjun crouches down with Jeno and inspects the iris. Indeed it was very pretty. The way the flower stands despite not having roots, and the vibrant color of the petals really shows that a elemental ghost created it. It almost makes Renjun jealous. </p><p>Almost ;) </p><p>"It is really pretty" Renjun says with a smile. Kyungmi smiles back and gives it to Renjun. She takes out a sunflower and a daffodil (how deep is this child's pocket) out from the same pocket and gives the sunflower to Donghyuck and the daffodil to Jeno. "One for oppa, and one for mermaid oppa to take home to the sea!" the littler girl exclaims. Said mermaid crouches down too and thanks the little girl. "Ok Kyungmi, go play with Eunbyul noona" Sungjoon says. The little girl pouts, but then sighs. "Ok" she says in a sad tone. Jeno laughs and caresses Kyungmi's head. "Sorry Kyungmi, oppa and his friends are busy today, but we can play with you later ok?" Kyungmi perks up and nods. "Call!" she says, and starts running towards her sister's room. The trio gets up from the ground and watch the little girl skip her way to the other room. </p><p>"I can't believe a little girl like her knows her way through this maze" Renjun says. "Well...she's lives here" Sungjoon replies. Jeno and Donghyuck snicker while Renjun glares at the younger. "You haven't changed" he says playfully, while crossing his arms. Sungjoon gives his sunbae a smile and let's the group into the room. "Dohyun make room!" Sungjoon shouts as the trio walks in. </p><p>Sungjoon's room is the typical room of a young male. A desk that was against the wall with a bed on the other side of it. There was a bookshelf next to the window which was smack middle of the back wall and a bean chair sitting next to the closet at the foot of the bed. A PC computer sat on the desk with three posters; two of a video game, and one of a idol group, on the wall behind it. On the bed sat Dohyun who was in the midst of clearing all of the flowers he created out of the way. He looks up and smiles upon seeing the boys walking in. "Hello sunbaes!" he greets with a head bow. "Hey Dohyun, how have you been?" Jeno asks. "I've been great! Neo City is much more fun then the human world" he says with a laugh.</p><p>"What's up? You don't usually come unless you need some info, which I assume is what you're here for?" Sungjoon says with a smirk. It's interesting to Renjun how the Sungjoon he had first met was cold, and dead silent. Now with Dohyun on his side, the younger seems more lively and happier then he was last school year. </p><p>"How astute of you Park Sungjoon" Jeno answers, giving his well known eye smile to his hoobaes. The eye smiles drop though, when he speaks again. "I uh, I know this may be so sudden, but our group really needs to find a specific location for a spirit revival job, and we need your help on finding it." Sungjoon and Dohyun share a glance then looks back at the older. "Sure, what do we need to do?" Dohyun asks. "It's uh.. not that much to us, but it may be a lot to you guys, especially Dohyun" Donghyuck says as careful as he can make out. Sungjoon drops his bright expression and crosses his arms. "Get to the point sunbae" he says with a deeper tone. Dohyun gives him a glance, but doesn't say anything and looks back at the seniors. Renjun sighs and turns specifically to Dohyun. "Dohyun, this may be really hard to recall, but...do you remember..where you were killed?" </p><p>The elemental ghost doesn't answer and holds back Sungjoon with one arm. "What the fuck? Why would you ask him that? That's a very intrusive question and not to mention traumatic!" the wolf says with a growl. "We know! We just really need to find that location! It's important and it involves someone's life!" Jeno says, putting his hands up. Dohyun tells Sungjoon to calm down and puts his arm down when his best friend does. "Don't worry sunbaes, it's not that difficult for me to recall. I actually wanted to speak to you about that place for the longest time, but you were busy so I couldn't." He looks at Renjun. "I especially wanted to talk to Renjun sunbae about that place." Renjun furrows his eyebrows. "Why me specifically?" he asks. Dohyun leans back against Sungjoon's headboard and starts to make another flower, despite Sungjoon's complaint ("Stop making so many flowers, you making my bed messy!"). "That specific area in the park is strange. Not only because it's dark and unknown to the government of the city, but it keeps moving every single time I go back to it." </p><p>Jeno tilts his head. "You keep going back to the place were you..passed?" he asks. Dohyun shakes his head. "No, well not on purpose. I do like to visit Cherry Park time to time because of all of the plants there, but whenever I'm there, I notice that that place moves each time I come back." Renjun nods, taking every word as a note into his head. "The other thing is that when I asked my other elemental ghost friends about it, only the ones with the plant elemental were able to spot it. The others said they didn't even realize such place exists" Dohyun continues. Sungjoon sits leans against his small drawer next that was next to his bed. "Is that why you asked me if I saw a place with vines the last time we were there?"  he asks. Dohyun nods. "You didn't see right?" Sungjoon nods. "You had to point it out for me." </p><p>"That's why I wanted to tell the sunbaes. Renjun sunbae might see it too since he has the plant elemental, but maybe not the others" Dohyung explains. "Have you thought of telling Professor Qian?" Renjun asks. Dohyun nods. "I did right after I noticed this phenomenon the next day in class. He told me he couldn't find it the next day." </p><p>"Odd" Renjun thinks. It made sense however. When Renjun found Dohyun's body, he had a hard time telling the police where it was and had to escort them there. "I can't say for sure where that place is. Though I'm sure if Renjun sunbae can find it, the rest of you guys can find it too. You only need a plant elemental to find it." </p><p>"We'll make sure to check it out. Thanks Dohyun, remind me to treat you and Sungjoon to a meal some time." Jeno says. Dohyun laughs. "Oh no problem! I've been meaning to tell you guys anyway. Please make sure to be safe!" he responds. </p><p>"We will, you guys be careful too!" Renjun says. After leaving Sungjoon's room, the wolf escorts the trio back to the main entrance of the estate. "Tell us if you need help, I would like to kick some ass some time in my life" Sungjoon says, putting his hands on his hips. Jeno chuckles and ruffles the younger's hair. "We gotta ask Taeseok hyung and Eunbyul noona first kiddo" he laughs. The group bids the wolf good bye and start to head back to the hospital to meet the others. "Wait, so if only plant elementals can find this place, how is it that Doyoung hyung ended up in there?" Donghyuck questions when the group is at the bus stop. "I dunno, that's another question to add to the list" Jeno answers. Renjun doesn't add anything to the conversation and only stares at the park across from him. </p><p>"Where could that place be." </p><p>.</p><p>After 15 minutes, Chenle had successfully made it into the office and opened the door. "We better get some samples quick before Doyoung hyung gets back, or else he's gonna kick our asses to the next realm" Mark says. The group slips on their gloves and starts looking for something to grab a good sample from. Thankfully, Doyoung only cleaned up his office in the sense of putting his furniture back and not getting rid of the ice and fire burns on his walls. To be honest though, it is kind of hard to clean that all up in a short amount of time. </p><p>Jaemin starts scanning the burn marks on the wall, looking for ones that are big enough to get a swab from, but small enough to not make it obvious that someone was in the room. "Hyung! What about this one?" Chenle shouts. Jaemin turns his head and walks over to where Chenle is. The leprechaun found one that was medium sized on the wall behind the coffee table. "Perfect, hand me a cotton swab and the sample potion please" Jaemin says. Chenle takes out a cotton swab from a container and hands it over to the hybrid. Then he takes out a bottle filled with light blue liquid, and gives it to Jaemin. The latter opens the lid of the bottle and sticks the cotton swab into it. This liquid is made for sampling burn marks from fire spirits and lightning spirits for study. Jaemin had learned how to use it when he had first started the assistant job long ago. </p><p>When the swab is covered with a good amount of the solution, Jaemin uses the cotton swab to take a swipe of the burnt mark on the wall. As he drags the swab against the wall, the black soot like color disappear from the wall, orange orbs following the swab head as it moves down. Once Jaemin gets the amount he wants, he opens a small sample bag and drops the cotton swab in and seals it. When he looks over to what Mark and Jisung are doing, he sees Mark chipping a piece of ice from the wall behind the cupboard and drops it into a sample container made for elemental ice. They didn't use Jisung's powers to get the ice off of the wall as he would've contaminated it with his own elemental make up. </p><p>"You got the burn mark?" Mark says after Jisung closes the container. Chenle and Jaemin gives a thumbs up. "Alright let's go! We can study the details at the medical lab back at school" Mark says. The group gathers their items and quickly go up to the door of the office. When they open it, they get startled to see the rest of their friend group standing in front of the doorway. "GAH, you guys scared us! We thought you were Doyoung hyung!" Mark scolds. "Sorry sorry, we're going to fill our shift time then meet you guys back at school, call?" Renjun whispers. The rest of the group agrees, then moves on to do what they are doing. They had successfully gathered some amount of information without Doyoung knowing. </p><p>.</p><p>At the end of the day, the group meets back again at Renjun's and Jaemin's dorm for updates. </p><p>"What? It keeps moving?" Mark asks. "That's what Dohyun said. We even asked other elemental ghosts on campus as well. The ones with the plant elemental say they see it and know it keeps moving, but others say that they didn't even know the place existed" Jeno explains. "That's why people keep dropping off bodies there" Jaemin says casually, without realizing how terrifying that sentence was. The others don't say anything about it though cause it's true. First, Dohyun's body is found in that place. Then, Doyoung was left unconscious there as well.</p><p>"What about the samples? What did you find?" Donghyuck asks. Mark sighs and looks at the lab reports he had printed out. "They turned out to be much more complicated then I thought they would be" he answers. "I gotta grab a sample from a regular spirit to compare because the makeup of the ones from Dok ZuZhi are so detailed, I don't think they're actually made out of their natural element." The rest of the group stares at the vampire with confusion. "Look at this" Mark says, handing the report to them. "Oh god, this looks like the periodic element table on steroids" Donghyuck says. He wasn't lying, the reports from the two samples were a mess of numbers, and percentages. It's a bit strange as elementals should just be made up of a simple chemical makeup as their natural counterparts. For example, it's weird how a ice elemental has a confusing mix of unknown chemicals and magical components when ice is just a formula of H2O, but frozen. "Hey, shouldn't that be part of a wind elemental? Why is it in a fire elemental?" Chenle asks, pointing to a specific chemical on the lab report. Jaemin looks to where Chenle is pointing at and nods. "Yeah, what the heck? Why is that part of a fire elemental? They shouldn't be together, otherwise the fire spirit wouldn't have been able to be alive" he says, taking the paper to examine himself. "There's stuff from a lightning spirit in here too!" Donghyuck says, pointing to a few chemicals on the lab report on the ice spirit. "They're like..hybrids of multiple spirits!" he exclaims. </p><p>Hybrids?...Hybrids! </p><p>"They're not normal, none of them are." The group turns to Renjun. "Yeah, I think we established that Huang" Donghyuck says. Renjun shakes his head. "No, that's not what I mean. When I got separated from you guys at District U, I got chased by a elemental spirit that was like..half ice and half lightning." There wasn't an answer to that statement. The group only stared at Renjun with disbelief. "What do you mean..half?" Jeno asks. "The spirit was able to shoot lightning and ice spikes when attacking. It was a darker shade of blue then a usual ice spirit and had lightning bolts coming from it. It sounds..strange, but please trust me when I say it's real and I saw it" Renjun explains. Mark nods and picks up the ice spirit's lab report. "No, we believe you, or at least I do. Look at the material listed on this report, most of it would belong to a lightning spirit." The vampire puts down the report and takes a highlighter from Jisung's pencil case. He highlights the chemicals and magical properties a lightning spirit would have on the report. When he finished, the paper was mostly yellow. "That's super creepy" Chenle comments. "Yeah it is" Renjun says after. What were the DokZuZhi planning to do with these spirits? </p><p>Renjun looks up to see Jaemin's reaction. The latter was the most serious Renjun had seen in a while. His eye brows were knitted together, the newly dyed blond hair is pushed back from the amount of times Jaemin combed through it from stress. "Well, what do we do about this? We know how to find that weird dark place in Cherry Park, we know what these spirits are, well kind of, but we don't know why these spirits are like this and how we can find Lee Taeyong" Donghyuck says. The group stays silent for a moment. They really don't know what to do now.</p><p>"For now-" Jaemin starts, breaking the silence. "-let's focus on training.If Taeyong is being held by the DokZuZhi, then we need to stay alert. As for Cherry Park...I don't know.." Renjun looks at his friends. They were sharing worried glances, not too sure on what to do. He looks down back at the lab reports, and the countless maps and books on the coffee table. He thinks for a while, then comes to a conclusion. </p><p>"I'm going to Cherry Park to find that place. Who's coming with me?" Renjun announces. The group looks at him, a little shocked. "Wait, you're just gonna go in there? What if the DokZuZhi is waiting for you there?" Jeno says. "Well, if they're waiting for me there, then let's fight! Look, we're only just starting on our investigation. These two pieces of evidence are the first stepping stones to new information, and if we don't take advantage of them we'll just get stuck." The human stands up and grabs a map from the coffee table. "I'm going to search that area after class tomorrow. I'll also search the library for books about weird disappearing places relating to elementals in the library during my shift. If anyone wants to join me, then feel free, if not then y'all should be doing something useful to our mission here or else how are we gonna save Flami- I mean Lee Taeyong?" </p><p>Donghyuck smirks and raises his hands. "I'm gonna join since you almost called Flameio, Flamieo" he says. Jaemin also raises his hand. "I'll join too." Donghyuck groans after Jaemin answers and turns to Jeno. "Please join us, I don't want to be a third wheel." Renjun giggles at Donghyuck's complaint and gives a bigger smile when Jeno chuckles as well. "Sure, like you said, we're seniors. We gotta do something in our last year of college." </p><p>"I mean that usually involves pranks and stuff involving campus, but ok" Mark says. "I'll work with Jisung and Chenle on researching more about the hybrid spirits. If we get enough information, I'm sure we can work with Jaemin on trying to..persuade the spirits from not you know..killing people." Everyone nods except for Jaemin. Renjun notices and asks him what's wrong. "It's nothing it's just...you can't persuade the DokZuZhi from doing anything" he answers. Renjun grabs the hybrid's hand and squeezes it. "We know, but we're gonna try anyway. Cause we're just that stupid" Renjun says in a gentle tone, grin on his face. Jaemin gives a small smile back then looks at the rest of the group.</p><p>"This is..gonna be interesting, but hey let's try it."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Who could've know that Flameio was Lee Taeyong?</p><p>The anxious fire spirit who jolts whenever he catches something on fire by accident.</p><p>The smol fire spirit that rarely gets angry and rather spend his time flying around the city instead of burning someone.</p><p>Yes, it was hard to tell wasn't it? Huhuhuhuhu</p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0034"><h2>34. 19. Saving Lee Taeyong pt. 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group continues to find Lee Taeyong, while also confronting their first group of DokZuZhi agents.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>SUP! </p><p>Wow, this week felt LONG! It feels like I haven't updated this work in ages huhuhu</p><p>Here's the new chapter! Trigger warning though! There is a part that includes suicide, so please be careful when reading! It will be around the middle of the story as the group's fight with the agents comes close to a end. </p><p>Hope you enjoy this one!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>
    <i>TW!!: SUICIDE WARNING!!. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED</i>
  </b>
</p><p>Renjun had time after his library shift before going to Cherry Park with the others, so he spends this time doing homework with Jaemin in their dorm. "Here you go Pangxie" he says, giving Pangxie a snack. The little crab thanks him by clamping her claws then proceeds to munch on the crackers Renjun had given her. "I feel bad, we should take her to the beach some day" Jaemin smiles. Renjun looks back at the crab and smiles as well. "Yeah, we really should." </p><p>They sit in silence, focusing on their assignments. They want to get everything done as much as they can so they don't have to worry about it later tonight. An hour passes in their study session. Renjun presses done on his page with his mouse and stretches a victory stretch for finishing his first assignment. "God, I hate senior year" he says, dragging out his words while he's stretching. Jaemin chuckles and presses done on his assignment too. </p><p>"How many more do you got?" he asks. </p><p>"Way too many to count" Renjun responds. </p><p>Jaemin gets up and walks around the coffee table and looks at Renjun's agenda that's laying open. "You don't have that much, only 2 more" he says. "Yeah, but they take such a long time. I'm gonna do them on the car ride there" Renjun says. Jaemin ruffles Renjun's hair and goes back to his spot, ignoring Renjun's complaint. "Try do as much as you can now so you don't have to do them later. We're gonna be pretty busy even if we don't need to be in the spirit lab today" he says. Renjun rests his head on his hand. "How many do you have then?" he asks. </p><p>"One,  it's pretty short too. It's just a worksheet." </p><p>Renjun tsks and opens his next assignment. "You photography majors and your short assignments" he mumbles, making Jaemin laugh. </p><p>Another 15 minutes pass, and both Jaemin and Renjun end up finishing their assignments. "See, you can finish them in time" Jaemin says, watching Renjun turn his assignment in online. The human only rolls his eyes in response and leans against Jaemin's shoulder. They were sitting against the couch, facing the TV. Donghyuck and Jeno had told them they just finished their sport practices and should be coming any minute. Pangxie got tired and went to take a nap in her tank. </p><p>"You're warm" Renjun sighs, closing his eyes for a while. Jaemin chuckles and wraps his arm over the smaller's shoulder. "Do you want to use my hoodie today?" </p><p>"Mmm, it depends on which one." </p><p>"The white one." </p><p>"Ok" </p><p>Jaemin smiles and rests his head on his boyfriend's. They sit in silence for a while before Renjun asks Jaemin a question. "Were you close with Lee Taeyong too?" he asks. Jaemin doesn't answer for while, but eventually says; "Not really, but I know he was important to Doyoung hyung." Renjun nods, but doesn't say anything else. </p><p>They like to do this time to time when they're stressed. Just sit in silence, in each other's arms. It was comforting for the both of them, knowing the other was right there next to them. </p><p>The silence was broken a few minutes later by the ringtone from Renjun's phone. The latter gets startled from the sound, then relaxes it was his phone. He picks it up, and answers in his best "I'm not sleepy" voice. </p><p>"Hello?"</p><p>"Were you sleeping?"</p><p>"No, are you here?" </p><p>"You were sleeping. Yeah we're here. Meet us in the lobby!" </p><p>"Ok" Renjun hangs up the phone and yawns. "Are you awake sleeping beauty" Jaemin jokes. Renjun lightly hits Jaemin in the shoulder and tries to get up. He gets pulled back down though, and gets a peck from the hybrid. "I'll go get the hoodie" he whispers, and gets up to go to his room. Renjun says thank you and gets up to tell Pangxie they're leaving again. </p><p>"Pangxieee~, we're leaving! Make sure to press the button on the walkie talkie to call Kunhang ge when you need something ok? Make sure to eat!" Pangxie clips a few times in response, and waves good bye with her new shell in her hand. Renjun smiles and waves a good bye before grabbing his phone from its charger. He spots the book he checked out at the library earlier, and grabs it too. He closes the room and is met with Jaemin with the hoodie in his hand. "Awe, I wanted to say good bye too" he pouts. "Then say good bye you silly pup" Renjun jokes. Jaemin pouts even more then smiles. He opens the door to say good bye to the crab and meets Renjun at the door way. They then go down to the lobby to meet Jeno and Donghyuck to get to Cherry Park.</p><p>.</p><p>"Do I really need to use the bells?" Donghyuck asks in a hesitant tone. "I can just smack people with the water I got you know." The car stops in front of red light, they were at the intersection near the park. "You need practice Hyuck, otherwise how are you gonna use them?" Jeno says, eyes on the traffic light. The merman huffs, and crosses his arms. The bells jingle from the loop of his pants as he leans back with much force, against the car seat. "I'd rather not use these bells at all, I can't work them" he responds quietly.</p><p>While Donghyuck and Jeno are arguing about the shaman bells, Renjun silently looks through the book he picked out from the library earlier. The Role of Nature in Shamanism it's called. A giant tree is pictured in the middle of the cover with decorative ribbons hanging from its branches along with a shrine filled with apples, pears, and other foods in the front. Renjun assumes this is a tree that was worshiped a long time ago, during the Joseon Dynasty, or even earlier then that. "Trees have a special role, because it is believed they too have spirits within themselves. They too have magical abilities and can do as they please."  a sentence of the book reads. "We're here!" Jeno announces. Renjun looks up from the book, then back down to bookmark and close it. He stuffs the book under a jacket Jeno forgotten in the backseat and climbs out of the car. </p><p>"So what's the game plan? Just follow Renjun around?" Donghyuck asks as they walk into the park. As it would be at 7pm on a Friday night, the park is filled with families, couples, and friends who wanted to spend the start of their weekend strolling around the giant park filled with mini bridges over mini streams, lampposts, benches, and a long pathway. There is even a playground in the middle of the park that is currently filled with little kids, screaming and laughing. "I guess so, we can't see the place ourselves to its up to Renjun to find it for us" Jeno says. Renjun tsks. "Thanks for the support guys" he deadpans. </p><p>It's sounds easy for the group to find this place, but it's better said then done. The park, is still filled with a bunch of trees and other forms of nature. Renjun can't tell if the cluster of plants on the other side of him is the place he's looking for or just a bunch of bushes the plant faes just forgot to clip last weekend. "Do you remember what it looks like?" Jaemin asks, looking around as well even though he won't find it. The human thinks back to when he followed the plant spirit through the park. All he remembered was that the more he ran, the more darker and cluttered the place around him became. He doesn't remember much about the entrance nor a exit, which he's not sure exists. </p><p>They four would spend 30 minutes walking around, (read: following Renjun like lost ducklings) before getting tired and resting at a bench by the playground. "Maybe, we're not supposed to look for it, but rather wait for it to appear right in front of us" Donghyuck suggests. Jaemin drinks a sip of Jeno's water bottle and closes it. "That could be possible, maybe it has a mind of its own" he says, handing the bottle back to the wolf. Donghyuck shakes his head. "No I meant maybe WE aren't supposed to be looking for it. Renjun hasn't probably found it yet because we're with him." Renjun stops watching two kids fight over a frisbee (he was secretly rooting for the kid that was trying to logic his way through the argument instead of physically fighting the other) and turns to the merman. "Wasn't Dohyun with his friends when he found it?" he asks. "Yeah, but it probably appeared because his friends weren't actively looking for it" Jeno says. Renjun looks at Jaemin. The other only shrugs as his response. Renjun sighs then stands up. "Then I'll look for it by myself. I'll call you guys when I find it" he says. Before he leaves, Jaemin jumps up and grabs his arm. The human turns around, a little startled by the act. "Be careful ok? Call us right away when you find it, don't go in by yourself" Jaemin says, his eyes big as saucers. Renjun gives the hybrid a small smile and caresses Jaemin's arm with his thumb. "Don't worry, I'll call you guys right away ok?" he whispers. Jaemin gives a small nod back and lets the smaller go. Renjun turns to the others and waves before heading off to the other parts of the park alone. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun isn't sure why he hasn't walked around the park by himself like this before. It's stress reliving and the visuals here are beautiful. He almost forgets that he's looking for a something. Maybe he should do this during break, or ask Jaemin to walk together as a date. </p><p>5 minutes pass, and Renjun finds himself in a isolated part of the park. There are five lampposts around him, and he can still hear people pass by so Renjun knows he hasn't found the place just yet. </p><p>He looks around his surroundings. "Maybe something here knows where this place is" he thinks. As he is searching, Renjun spots a little orange flower sitting in the grass by itself in front of a bush. Said bush is filled with red and purple flowers that had petals that were as many as a marigold, and have some sort of sparkle to them. The red and purple flowers seemed to be teasing the little orange flower for being so simple and small, as Renjun notices them giggling and whispering to each other. The little orange flower only sighs and limps down, knowing that it is small and that its petals are not as great as the flowers behind it. </p><p>"Hey!" The red and purple flowers look up and become stunned at the human who was staring at them with a pointed look. "Yes, I can hear you, and what you guys are saying is rude! Just because this little fella is a small flower, doesn't make her less special then you guys. At least she can stand on her own without the help of a bush!" The red and purple flowers look at each other, and look down in shame. Renjun shakes his head and sighs. "I suggest apologizing to the little flower right now, or else you're going to be guilty for the rest of your short lives" Renjun huffs. The flowers look up then at the little orange flower, who was still looking down at the ground. They share glances. Instead of apologizing, they sink back into the bush, surprising Renjun a little. "Hey! You guys have no manners! I'm going to talk to the fae who takes care of you guys and tell them you are quite rude!" </p><p>Renjun sighs again and walks over to the orange flower and crouches down. "Hey now, it's ok. At least they're gone now right? Now you can stand up proudly, and be the beautiful flower you are" The little orange flower looks up at Renjun and tilts its head. It looks back at the bush, then looks down at the ground again. "Why so sad little one?" Renjun looks back at the bush then at the little orange flower. He then notices at the little pieces of baby breaths around it and gets why the flower is so sad. "Were you trying to make some friends of your own?" he asks. The orange flower looks up and nods its small head. Flowers with magical abilities can create things on their own and move around. While ones with great powers like the Moon Cherry Blossom can move around and heal itself, flowers like this orange one can only create baby breaths around itself and have enough power to survive. </p><p>"Let's make a deal" The orange flower looks at Renjun. "I can try make a friend for you, and if you are satisfied, you can direct me to a place I need to find. Deal?" The orange flower looks back down to think a bit, then lifts its head and nods. Renjun smiles then directs his hands to the empty space next to the orange flower. He closes his eyes then starts to create a little yellow flower much like the orange one. After he is done, he opens his eyes and sees the yellow flower yawn and stretch. It looks at Renjun then the orange one next to it. The two flowers stare at each other for a while before holding each other's leaves. Renjun giggles. "Do you like each other already?" he says. The two flowers look up at Renjun and nod, quite happy that they are not alone. Renjun smiles, being reminded of a particular someone who makes him feel the same way. "I'm glad. Now that I did my part of the deal, you must do yours yes?" The orange flower nods its head, and gestures for Renjun to tell it about the place he's looking for with its leaf. </p><p>"I'm looking for a place in this park that is quite dark, and messy. It is a place that only people and creatures like you, me, the plant faes, and other plant elementals can find. Do you happen to know where that place is?" The orange flower taps its head with its leaf like it is thinking, then got its answer. It points to the right of Renjun. The human turns his head and gets startled by the mass of vines that suddenly stood before him. "Oh, why thank you" Renjun says, a bit shocked by how the place just appeared in front of him. He stands up and starts to walk towards the place, but remembers what he had said to Jaemin before. </p><p>He turns back to the orange flower. "Do you think I can call my non-plant elemental friends to come here too? They won't harm it! I uh, kinda promised to go in with them." The orange flower shrugs, then gestures for Renjun to ask the vines. The human tilts his head. "Ask the vines?" he thinks. "O-Ok..thank you" he says. He turns to the pile of vines in front of him and gulps. "This is strange" he thinks to himself, as if he didn't just ask for directions from a tiny flower on the ground. </p><p>"H-hello, Mr. Vines!" Renjun starts off awkwardly. The vines don't respond, but Renjun continues anyways. "My name is Huang Renjun. I am a elemental human, and my element is plants, well obviously since I'm talking to you." He hears the yellow flower face palm behind him. Renjun turns around and narrows his eyes at the flower. "Don't behave like that to your father" he quietly scolds, then turns back to the vines. He takes a deep breath then lets it go to calm himself, then talks again. "My friends and I need to go to your place because a fire spirit is in danger. We believe that if we can find clues within your place, we can save this fire spirit. Will you allow us to go inside?" </p><p>Again, the vines don't answer. Renjun sighs. "Ok, thank you" he says defeatedly. He turns around to his flower friends who were also disappointed by the vine's reaction. "Thank you anyways guys, I'll make sure to visit you when I can" he says quietly. The flowers look at each other, then at Renjun. Then suddenly, the start to violent sway side to side, while also pointing their leaves to something behind the human. "Is this a good bye dance or something?" Renjun asks, a bit confused. The flowers shake their head and continue to do what they are doing. Renjun finally notices them pointing at something behind him, and slowly turns his head to what it is. </p><p>"AHH!" Renjun screams. He jumps back next to the orange flower, when he sees one of the vines reaching out to him, patiently swaying like a snake hanging from a branch. Renjun immediately gets up and brushes himself off. "Hello" he greets, giving the vine a bow. The vine bows back and gestures for Renjun to come closer. The human complies, and after he does, the vine rests its tip on Renjun's forehead. Renjun closes his eyes, and sees a vision of a great tree that stands in the middle of a field and shaman ribbons hanging from its branches. "It's the tree from the book!" Renjun thinks. The vine retracts, and the image is gone. Renjun opens his eyes, and looks at the vine. "Would you like us to look for that tree when we go in?" he asks. The vine nods. </p><p>"Renjun!" </p><p>Renjun turns around and is surprised to see his friends running up to him. "Oh hey! I found it!" he says cheerfully. "Yeah we know" Jeno says, with a eye smile. Renjun raises an eyebrow and scans his friend's faces. "Really? How did you guys know? I didn't call you guys. Also what happened, why do Donghyuck and Jeno look so happy, and why does Jaemin look distressed." Donghyuck snorts and starts to laugh. "Oh my god, so this.... HAHAH JENO YOU TELL HIM I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING" Donghyuck cries out, ultimately falling to the ground while holding his stomach. Jaemin rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "Long story short, a vine comes out of nowhere and smacked me in the head. When I turned around to see what it was, I freaked out and screamed and scared everyone in the park." </p><p>"That's not it. It also kept pocking Jaemin in the back while it was leading us here" Jeno laughs. Renjun snorts, and starts to laugh a little as well. He stops when Jaemin glares at him. "I'm sorry, it's just very adorable" Renjun says while laughing. He comes up to Jaemin and rubs the back of his head. "Are you ok?" he asks, still giggling from the story. Jaemin pouts then shakes his head. "No, Nana wants a kish (read:kiss)" he says while acting out some aegyo. Donghyuck and Jeno stop laughing and start groaning instead. "Ugh, guys can you not! This is why I told Jeno to come with us, so I don't have to suffer alone" Donghyuck says. Renjun gives Donghyuck a glare before turning to Jaemin and giving a peck on his forehead. "I can't really kiss the back of your head but I can kiss there. Better?" Jaemin puts his finger on his chin and starts to act like he's thinking. "What about here?" he asks, putting his finger on his lip. Before Renjun could react, the vine hits Jaemin again in the head. "OW OK!! Geez, I'm here already my god! Why don't you hit Jeno or Donghyuck??" he says, rubbing the back of his head. Jeno and Donghyuck start to laugh hysterically again. The orange and yellow flowers start to giggle to themselves. Renjun only smiles and shakes head. He grabs Jaemin's hand and pecks him on the lips. </p><p>"There, come on I think the vines are getting tired here" Renjun laughs. Jaemin pouts again, but then gives the smaller a smile. They gesture Jeno and Donghyuck to come follow. Renjun says good bye to the orange and yellow flowers, who wave good bye back, then the group goes into the place they've been searching for, for the past 2 days. </p><p>.</p><p>The place was exactly as Renjun had remembered. All of the vines were tangled up against the trees and on the floor, and no sign of light was seen. The boys had to use the flashlights on their phones in order to maneuver their way through. "We knew this place was dark, so why didn't we bring lamps or something?" Jaemin asks. He trips over a branch and turns around. He points the light at where he tripped, but there was nothing there. </p><p>"I swear to god the plants here hate me" Jaemin mutters. Renjun laughs and keeps walking. "Relax, they think you're funny" he says, turning around. He starts to walk backwards, which worries Jaemin a bit. "Renjun.." he says. "I agree with lover boy here Huang, this isn't exactly the place where you should walk backwards" Donghyuck says in a concerned tone. Renjun pouts then turns back around. </p><p>They continue to walk for another 20 minutes. "Ugh, Renjun where are we going? My arm is tired from holding up my phone" Donghyuck complains. He massages his arm with his other hand, and switches the phone to said hand. As Donghyuck was making sure his other arm was ok, Jaemin's phone dies from the lack of battery. "Shit" he murmurs. Jeno, who is the only one not carrying his phone because of his nocturnal abilities, turns to Jaemin. The other is currently finding the pocket of his pants to slip his phone in. Once he finds it, he puts it in and keeps walking, not noticing Jeno staring at him. Donghyuck turns to the hybrid. "Can you see?" the merman asks, a bit shocked on how Jaemin is walking just fine without a flashlight. "A little? I don't know it's a bit hard to see, but I can" he answers. Renjun eyes Jaemin then at Jeno and Donghyuck, noticing on how they sharing glances of suspicion. </p><p>He turns looks back at the front and notices some light far from them. "Look guys!" Renjun says, pointing his finger at the light. Jeno and Donghyuck stop staring at Jaemin and look to where Renjun is pointing. "LIGHT!" Donghyuck cheers. He starts to run over to the luminous space, making sure he isn't tripping over any branches or leaves. "Come on!" Renjun says. He grabs Jaemin's hand and starts to run with him, following Donghyuck. "Jeno, run with us!!" the human shouts, hoping the wolf forgot about the whole seeing in the dark thing. </p><p>Jeno didn't forget. He only added it to a list he's building in his head. </p><p>.</p><p>The light Renjun found turned out to be a large tree, that was being illuminated by the moon light in the middle of a large field. It was the same tree Renjun had seen in the vision the vines had given him. "Woah, this place exists in the park?" Donghyuck says, staring at the field at awe. Renjun looks around him and sees that the field was placed at the end of a forest, the tunnel he and his friends just gotten out of. There was a stream that was running nearby, and a mountain further back of the tree. "I don't think we're in the park anymore" Renjun says, looking around the area. It looked like they're by the Han River, except during the Joseon Era, when there were no pavements and buildings. Only dry grass and a single tree was present. </p><p>The human stops looking around and turns to the tree. He takes notices that the things that were hanging off of the tree's branches were not ribbons, but strips of cloth from people's clothes. Renjun tells his friends to gather around to greet the tree. "Hello Great Tree!" Renjun greets, giving the tree a bow. His friends look at each other, then do the same. Then, they straighten themselves up. "My name is Huang Renjun! I am a Elemental Human with the Plant Element!" Renjun says. He eyes Donghyuck, telling him to introduce himself next. Donghyuck raises his eyebrows, then quickly turns to the tree and bows again. "Hello! I uh, my name is Lee Donghyuck! I am a merman with the Water Element!" he says after getting up. "My name is Lee Jeno, I am a werewolf from the Park pack in District U!" Jeno says. </p><p>"My name is Na Jaemin" Jaemin says as he bows. The rest of the group waits for him to say something else, but the hybrid stays quiet. "Yo! Don't you have anything else to say to a tree god??" Donghyuck whispers. Jaemin doesn't answer and only stares at the bark of the tree. Renjun laughs nervously and clears his throat, catching the attention of Donghyuck and Jeno. 'We are humbled to be in your presence Great Tree! We have questions to ask you regarding a ghost who had appeared within this...world a few days ago. His name is Kim Dongyoung, and he had been placed here by a organization named the DokZuZhi while unconscious." The tree doesn't answer nor do anything to respond. The only thing that answers was the wind, which gently blew the strips of cloth hanging from the tree. </p><p>"You don't happen to know how to speak to powerful plants right?" Jeno whispers to Renjun. Renjun looks to Jeno and shakes his head. He turns back to the tree and tries to speak again. "We beg you to help us. A fire spirit is in danger being killed, and we must do everything we can do bring him back!" He eyes Jaemin, who only stands silently. "This fire spirit..is a important person to our mentor, who is the ghost who had came here not to long ago. He is also important to one of our friends." Jaemin eyes Renjun, but doesn't say anything or do anything. "Please help us Great Tree...Please."</p><p>As Renjun was speaking, green orbs start to lift from the ground. His friends notice them and step back. "Renjun?" Donghyuck calls out. Renjun turns to Donghyuck then notices all of the green orbs around him. "I think, that's your answer?" Jeno says, raising his shoulders and arms. The green orbs surround Renjun then come together to push him closer to the tree. The human doesn't say anything, and only complies with the orbs. When he arrived right in front of the tree, the orbs guided his hand. They open it and place it on the bark of the tree. Renjun closes his eyes. </p><p> </p><p>Renjun envisions two men dragging what seems like Doyoung through Cherry Park. </p><p><i>"Ugh! Why couldn't we just throw him into our prisons?? I don't want to do the dirty work"</i> One of the men grumbles.</p><p>
  <i>"Think about it stupid, if we keep Kim Doyoung AND Lee Taeyong within our place, do you know how much trouble that'll bring us??  Their whole team is going to get us!!"</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Renjun gasps. </p><p>The men take a rest at the isolated area Renjun was in before he found the Great Tree's place, and drop Doyoung's body near the orange flower. The flower looks up at the men, then look down at the ground, acting as if it's dying. </p><p><i>"And besides, he's not the one we want"</i> the one of the men say. The other tsks and looks around. <i>"This looks like a good place to drop him. Don't ya think?"</i> The other man glare at his coworker and looks down at the ghost.</p><p>
  <i>"Why don't we just bury him alive? Solves all of our problems does it?"</i>
</p><p>"No! Don't do that!" Renjun thinks. "Don't you dare!!" </p><p>The other man smiles a evil grin and gives a thumbs up. <i>"I'm down for that"</i> he says. Then, he does something Renjun doesn't expect to happen.</p><p>He maneuvers a part of the ground to make a hole. </p><p>"He has a Earth elemental? I thought the DokZuZhi only had poison" Renjun thinks to himself. The man who doesn't have the Earth elemental looks at the orange flower at the ground and crouches down. </p><p>
  <i>"I know you're still alive."</i>
</p><p>The orange flower starts to shake. It lifts its head slightly to look at the man. <i>"If you tell your little caretakers about this, then you won't be alive anymore"</i> the man says. He stands up and looks at the plants around him. <i>"All of you heard that right?? If you speak a word, you're dead!"</i> The man then plucks a few pieces of grass and burns it in his hands to show an example.</p><p>"A fire elemental" Renjun says to himself. </p><p>The man then sprinkles the burnt grass on Doyoung's face then tells the Earth elemental to hurry up. When the Earth elemental man is done, he and the fire elemental man was about to drop the ghost's body into the hole before both were knocked  by the vines of the Great Tree. <i>"What the fuck! Who's there!"</i> the fire elemental man shouts. The vines smack them again before wrapping itself around their bodies and knocking them against each other likes dolls. They fall to the ground, blood on their foreheads. <i>"Shit, I think it's that stupid tree. Come on Byungchan"</i> the fire elemental man says.</p><p>The two men then run away, leaving Doyoung alone the ground. All of the plants release a sigh of relief, then look at Doyoung. They whisper to each other, hoping that the ghost was somewhat ok. The little orange flower looks at the vines and gestures to the ghost, hoping they can help him. The vines nod, then grab Doyoung's body and bring him through the hanging vines before disappearing and never to be seen again. As for the hole, it fixes itself by filing itself with dirt and replacing the grass that was lost. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun opens his eyes, then looks up at the tree. "So that's what happened" he says to himself. He turns around to his friends, who eagerly look at him for answers. </p><p>Suddenly, the branches of the tree start to shake violently. The leaves rustle with great force, and the strips of cloth start to sway as if they were trying to get off of the branches themselves. Renjun sees the orbs around him face sink to the ground, realizing there's trouble around them. </p><p>"Jeno, blow your whistle" Renjun says. Jeno brings out the whistle Taeil had given him and blows. "Four people" he mutters, before turning to his left, and dodging a lightning attack from indeed, a group of four people.</p><p>The DokZuZhi. </p><p>"What the? You guys are telling me you got pummeled by a group of children??" the woman with the lightning elemental says. "No! It was the tree! I never seen these people in my life!" the Earth elemental man from Renjun's vision says. The woman rolls her eyes and faces Renjun and his friends again. She scans the boys before her eyes land on Jaemin. "Oh? Could that be the little boy from a couple years ago? Let's see what was his name again?" she says. She starts to walk closer to the group, who group up together as defense. "Junmin? Jimin? No, it was..ah!" She snaps her fingers, bits of lightning coming out as she did. </p><p>"Na Jaemin!" </p><p>Renjun's eyes widen. He, Donghyuck, and Jeno, turn to Jaemin who doesn't react and maintains a emotionless expression on his face. "Nice to meet you again Jaemin! Why you've grown so much! Just yesterday, you were the little boy who was crying about his dead parents. Hah! It's been so long!" the woman says, a creepy smile lingering on her face.</p><p>Jaemin's face doesn't change. Then he smirks. </p><p>"Sorry, who are you?" he asks. The woman raises an eyebrow. "You don't remember me?" she asks. </p><p>"I don't? Sorry, have we met before?" he asks, enjoying the shocked look on the woman's face. "We have! We clearly have! You must remember!" the woman shouts, getting a bit annoyed. Jaemin walks through the shield his friends created and stops a few feet away from the woman. "Why? I haven't seen you in my life, so I don't think I would remember. Perhaps.." Jaemin says, tapping his finger on his chin. "Oh! Are you that cranky lady from the supermarket? Or that hairdresser woman? Or.." </p><p>He crosses his arms. "Are you that old woman who worked as a maid from the house next over?" The woman's eyes glow bright yellow from anger. The bolts from her hair begin to crackle, which makes Renjun realize that the woman was a revived spirit. </p><p>Which is strange because he has never seen this person before. Did Doyoung revive her before he was a assistant? Is that why Jaemin knows her? </p><p>Without a warning, the woman launches a lightning attack at the hybrid. Donghyuck comes out in front of him and waves the shaman bells to the left, a stream of water coming out with the bells, and blocks the lightning by dissolving it. Though, instead of flawlessly coming back to the handle after, the bells then drop helplessly to the ground as if they didn't just start to work. "Woah! Water came out this time!" Renjun says. Donghyuck turns to the human and gives him a pointed look. "Not the time to make me more embarrassed Huang!" he whispers shouts. </p><p>"Ugh! Ignore them and kill the damn tree!" the woman shouts to her comrades. </p><p>Donghyuck quickly collects the bells back onto the handle, and ties them to the loop of his pants. Then he conjures enough water to make a stream of his own and pushes the woman to the ground. "Just because I can't work these stupid bells, doesn't mean I don't know how to fight" he taunts, then grabs her with a orb of water and lifts her into the air. </p><p>The rest in the meantime, fight the others. Jeno turns into his wolf form and tackles the fire elemental. He dodges a fire ball that is thrown from the man, and turns into his human form. "Catch me if you can!~" he sing songs, and runs away from the tree, leading the fire man to the river. </p><p>Renjun fights the Earth elemental man, who throws a series of rocks at him and blocks his path as he's running away. "Shoot, there's no trees or plants I can use" he thinks to himself. He stops running and turns around. Then he encases the Earth elemental man in a purple shield and throws him away from the tree with all of his might. He turns to the tree. "Are there plants that I can fight with?" he asks. Green orbs come out from the ground next to him, and start to construct a tree branch for Renjun to use. The human smiles and accepts it from the orbs. "Thank you" he says, bowing towards the tree. He notices the Earth elemental man coming back and manipulates the branch to hit his chest, pushing him further back. </p><p>Donghyuck throws the lightning woman to the ground and strikes her with a stream of water. The woman responds by shooting bolts of lightning at him, which he dissolves with the stream he's holding. He thins the stream of water and uses it to trip the woman. The woman falls onto her face onto the ground, which allows Donghyuck to hold her up in a orb of water again in the air. </p><p>Jaemin uses his super speed to avoid a man with plant elemental. The man creates vines from his sleeve and aims in catching Jaemin as he runs. The hybrid as he's running finds a patch of tall grass. He looks around to see if anyone is looking. Then, he turns into his wolf form, and runs into the tall grass. </p><p>The man comes soon after, and sees the tall grass. He smirks, then continues to walk around it. "You know, you were quite the intelligent kid. So when you were putting up that facade earlier, I knew it was you" he says out loud, occasional whipping the ground with his vine. Jaemin doesn't answer, and only watches the man through the grass. "It was quite sad when I saw you crying for your life when you're parents died. Honestly, I was quite shocked to see you had emotions! I always thought you had a antisocial disorder or something." </p><p>The man continues to walk back and forth. Then suddenly, he stops. "You are also, from what I remember, are quite the hider." He turns to where Jaemin is hiding and launches two of his vines. The hybrid starts to run but gets caught by the vines at his feet. The man drags him by the foot, then throws Jaemin into the air. He turns back into his human form, but then gets caught again through the man's vines, which tied around his body. "Ah ha! I caught the boy!" The man shouts. He throws Jaemin to where everyone is fighting onto the ground, then quickly picks him up again with his vines. </p><p>"Perfect" the woman says. She looks at Donghyuck and gives her creepy smile. "You are quite talented, however-"  She starts to manipulate Donghyuck's water into a stream of her own, and whips him onto the ground. "-you've got a lot to learn" she grins, holding the water with her hands. "WHAT THE FUCK!" Donghyuck yells. The woman strikes Donghyuck again with the stream of water, which pushes him against a tree near the forest. "Ow" he says, and dodges another attack from the woman. </p><p>Meanwhile, the fire man Jeno was fighting turns into a wolf himself. His fur was bright red, with bits of fire coming out from it. Jeno widens his eyes, and dodges a fire ball that came from the wolf's mouth. Jeno splashes some of the river's water at the fire wolf before turning into a wolf himself and running away. </p><p>Renjun turns around and gasps at the mess he's friends were in. He looks up at Jaemin who was trying to get out of the vines that were tied around him. "JAEMIN!" he shouts. He starts to run towards the hybrid before tripping over a raised rock. He turns around and defends himself from a spiked bat. "Great, a dokkaebi!" Renjun groans to himself in Chinese. He dodges another blow before getting trapped in a box of raised walls made from the ground. "Hey!!" he shouts, and tries to pound against the walls. </p><p>During this time, Donghyuck gets hit by a lightning bolt in the back, causing him to fall onto the ground. "It hurts me to harm a fellow merperson, but this is for the best" the woman says, and lifts Donghyuck in a orb of water just as he did to her. Jeno gets burned from trying to tackle the fire wolf and gets stuck in a ring of fire the other wolf created. The fire man turns back into his human form and smiles. "Caught ya" he smirks. </p><p>"THE TREE!! GET THE TREE!!" Renjun hears the woman shouts from the inside. "NO!! STAY WAY FROM THAT TREE!" he shouts. He begins to pound against the raised walls and groans. "Ugh! I hate this!" he shouts angrily. He shields himself and tries to burst the rocks open, but it doesn't work. He screams angrily, before realizing something. </p><p>"Oh wait! I can move things with my mind!" </p><p>Indeed he can move things with his mind. </p><p>Though he's not sure it could work, Renjun gives it a try. He closes his eyes, and focuses. Then he raises his hands and pushes against the roof of his rock box. "Come on!" he says, pushing the rock with his might. The rock glows in a purple aura, shaking aggressively before popping off. "Alright!" Renjun cheers. He slams the tree branch the Great Tree had given him onto the ground like how he had done in the hospital and grows a large tree to get out the box. He looks from above and sees the woman and the fire man attempting to get to the Great Tree, but is constantly gets stop by the green orbs and the grass that constantly ties them down to the ground. </p><p>As Renjun watches them try to get the grass off of them (which in his opinion looked pretty pathetic), he notices choker like bands around their necks, each colored to match their elemental. He looks at the Earth man who was currently fighting Jeno in wolf form and sees a brown band around his neck as well. The only one without a band was the plant man. </p><p>"Hm..I wonder" Renjun thinks. He shrinks the tree to a smaller size and lands on the edge of the rock walls. He jumps off with the branch in his hands. Then, he runs up to the two adults trying to hurt the Great Tree. He encases the man in a purple shield and focuses on the woman. "YEONGJA!" the man yells from inside of the ball. The woman turns around and launches a bolt at Renjun. The latter dodges and throws the man at the woman, making them collide into each other. Renjun then places the tree branch into the ground and manipulates to tie the woman, restricting her from using her powers. </p><p>"GET THE KID!!" she shouts. The fire man turns around and transforms into a wolf. He charges to Renjun who traps him into a purple shield and throws him into the plant man. The plant man loses focus and drops Jaemin from his vines. The hybrid gets up and runs to Renjun. "Are you ok?" he asks, checking for any injuries. "I'm fine" Renjun smiles. The human drops that smile and turns to the woman who was watching the pair. "Who's that Na? Your boyfriend?" she asks, no longer trying to get out of the tree branch that's currently holding her. Renjun and Jaemin don't react and walk up to the lady. Renjun crouches down and looks at the band around her neck. </p><p>He points to the band, and tilts his head. "What's that?" he asks, as innocently as he can make out. The woman widens her eyes and looks at the band around her neck. "Clearly, since you have a water elemental, I'm sure you don't need this!" Renjun says, and takes off the band around her neck.</p><p>"NOOO!!" the woman shrieks, as she dissolves into bright yellow orbs. Renjun and Jaemin step back in shock as the tree branch is no longer holding a woman, but a bunch of yellow orbs with bits of bolts crackling from them. </p><p>"GUYS WATCH OUT!!" Jeno screams from the other side.</p><p>Renjun and Jaemin turn around and see the fire wolf, angry that they had just got rid of his comrade (Renjun isn't sure if they killed her or did something else..but they got rid of her nonetheless). The fire wolf takes a step back, then starts to charge towards the pair, shooting fire balls from its mouth. Jaemin moves out of the way to the side while Renjun puts up his purple shield, protecting himself and the tree. "Alright Renjun, make sure this timing is perfect!" he thinks to himself. He waits for the wolf to run closer to him, then he drops his shield and encases the wolf instead. "Nice one Huang" Renjun says to himself in Chinese, then throws the wolf over to where Jaemin was. The wolf turns into his human form to run back to the tree, but is tackled by the hybrid. "Good bye forever you weird fire wolf!" Jaemin announces, and rips the band around the fire man's neck. The man starts to dissolve into orange orbs, much like how the lightning lady had done. </p><p>Two down, two more to go. </p><p>Donghyuck, having been striked by a lightning bolt in the back, gets up from the ground with much struggle. "Stupid lightning! Ugh, never liked that elemental anyways" he mumbles to himself. He sees Jeno fighting the earth and plant man in his wolf form, noticing that the wolf was getting tired from fighting two people by himself. With as much strength as he can create, Donghyuck summons a water whip, and launches it at the Earth man. The whip manages to tie around the man's ankle, which Donghyuck uses to drag and throw the man into the air. The merman uses the whip to catch the man again by the ankle, and to bring him closer to where he is. "Bye bitch!" the merman cheers, and rips the band off of the Earth man's neck, dark yellow orbs replacing him in his existence. </p><p>At this time, Jeno had headbutted the plant man as a wolf into a tree. The plant man slams into the tree by his back, obviously tired from fighting. He looks up and scoffs as he sees the four boys coming up to him. "I can't believe I'm losing to a bunch of children" he mumbles to himself. The plant man gets up from the ground, uses his vines as a rope, and ties it around the branches of the Great Tree. He takes a running start, the swings to the bark of the tree. Once he gets to his destination, the plant man jumps off and takes out a knife. "You're done you stupid tree!" he shouts, and raises his hand to stab the bark of the tree, but is stopped by Jaemin who uses his super speed to go in front of the tree and stop the plant man. The man chuckles as he struggles to free himself from Jaemin's grip. "You've grown up, haven't you?" he says. Jaemin doesn't answer, and keeps holding the man's wrist. The man smiles then nods. "Keep growing kid, one day you'll be just as strong as your father." After saying that, the man lowers his hands, and brings the knife to his neck. Jaemin, hands still on the wrists of the man, widens his eyes realizing that the man is about to kill himself to get his blood onto the Great Tree. </p><p>"RENJUN!!" </p><p>Renjun turns around, and sees the man about to kill himself. Quickly, Renjun uses his telekinesis to bring the knife away from the man's hand, but the knife was already close to the man's neck. As the knife was taken away, it had cut the man's throat, drawing out the blood. Renjun encases the knife in a purple bubble and tosses it to Jeno. Then, before the man's blood could touch the tree or the grass, he encases the man in a purple shield of his own. The group breathes a sigh of relief, seeing how the blood had successfully been able to stay away from the tree. They watch as not long after, the man starts to turn into green orbs of his own, his body and blood being dissolved as his peers had. </p><p>"Well-" Donghyuck starts. "-I think we got the answer to our question." </p><p>.</p><p>"I really underestimated Taeil hyung's abilities" Renjun thinks to himself.</p><p>To be honest, the human forgets that Taeil is a water dragon deity.</p><p>The dude works in a small flower shop in the middle of District U away from the stream, it's kind of hard to remember. </p><p>The day after Renjun and his friends had discovered the Great Tree was a Saturday. Meaning the group didn't have any classes, and had the day to catch up on any work they missed on, relax, or search for more clues on Lee Taeyong's whereabouts, which is something Renjun, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung are doing right now. </p><p>Donghyuck and Jeno had to practice with their team, and Mark had his internship. So, they left it up to the rest of the group to gather information. </p><p>"Ugh, we should've interrogated them or something before pulling their bands. We could've gotten more information then" Jaemin sighs, pushing his hand through his hair for the 6th time. Renjun puts down his pen and sighs as well. "You know they won't give up info, no matter how hard we push them." Something is heard falling in the kitchen. "Jisung are you ok?" Jaemin asks out loud, eyes glued to a set of papers Chenle gave him. A meek "yea" is said back. "What did you drop?" the hybrid asks. A bit of shuffling, and Jisung pokes his head out from the kitchen's entrance. "A plastic bowl that was sitting on the counter." </p><p>"Was it filled with something?" </p><p>"No" </p><p>Renjun laughs on how guilty Jisung looked. While the boy is as sarcastic as Donghyuck or Renjun himself, he does have his moments where he's like a little mouse who liked to hide in his little hole in the wall. It was cute in Renjun's opinion. "Go pick it up and put it into the sink, I'll wash it later. Chenle, what does this say?" Jaemin says, pointing to a scribble Chenle had written in the corner of the paper in Chinese. The leprechaun looks up from a book and peers over the paper Jaemin's holding. "It says...gege what does this say?" Renjun takes the paper from Jaemin's hand and squints at the messy characters on the corner of the page. "It says 'hybrids have double amount of power then a regular creature.'" </p><p>"That's weird" Renjun thinks. As far as he knows, Jaemin is a hybrid, but he's weaker then the average vampire and werewolf. Now that he thinks about it, he's not even sure that Jaemin was born a hybrid. He never shown any signs of being a vampire when he was young, and often showed more werewolf aspects rather then the vampire ones. "Jaem" Renjun says. Jaemin looks at Renjun and hums. Renjun opens his mouth, but closes it when he realizes Chenle and Jisung were in the room. "Never mind, I'll ask you later" the human says, going back to marking a map of Neo City. </p><p>"Were you going to ask Jaemin hyung something romantic or something?" Jisung asks, coming back with a bowl of chips. "Really? This was all of the snacks you could find?" Chenle says, looking at the bowl with pity. "There were other snacks, but Jaemin hyung told me to not prepare something that could potentially burn or freeze the house down so I didn't touch them." Jaemin smiles and ruffles Jisung's head. "Good, you listened for once" the older jokes. </p><p>As Jaemin says that, his phone starts to ring on the table. The caller ID shows that it was Taeil. "You have hyung's number?" Chenle asks. "Doyoung hyung gave it to me just in case he isn't available" Jaemin nonchalantly says. He picks up his phone and slides the green button to the left. "Hello?" he answers. </p><p>"Can you guys come to the flower shop for a bit?" </p><p>"Why?" Jaemin says, getting a head start at putting away the books and pens sprawled all over the table. </p><p>"Just come, I need to talk to you guys." </p><p>The hybrid raises an eyebrow and gives an "ok." He hangs up the phone and tells the others to put away all of the papers and books. "Taeil hyung told us to come to the flower shop for a talk" he explains. "Why? Are we in trouble?" Renjun asks. "I don't think so, we haven't interacted with Taeil hyung in a while right?" Chenle says. "I'm sure we're fine." </p><p>They were not in fact, "fine." </p><p>When the group arrived at Taeil's flower shop, he directed them to the back porch like usual and offered them the usual snacks and drinks. This time, they were muffins and some fruit tea. </p><p>He waits for them to get comfortable, and fill their stomachs up then drops the question very casually. </p><p>"So, how is it going with you guys and finding Lee Taeyong?" </p><p>Renjun doesn't know how Taeil found out about their secret mission, and certainly does not want to find out. </p><p>At this time, Donghyuck, Jeno, and Mark had arrived at the flower shop and opened the back porch. "Hello" Jeno greets, walking onto the porch with Donghyuck and Mark behind him. The trio don't notice the obvious shock on the other's faces and goes to take their seats at the lovely table Taeil had picked out at IKEA. </p><p>They certainly were confused when Chenle shrunk into his leprechaun form and started to sprint towards the opened slide doors. Knowing this would happen (and having SEEN it happen), Taeil closes the slide doors with his own telekinesis, causing Chenle to run into them and bump his head. The leprechaun  grows back to his normal size, sitting on the floor and rubbing his head. "Ow.." he groans. </p><p>"Chenle, come back to the table please" Taeil says. Immediately, the younger gets up from the ground and walks defeatedly back to his seat at the table. Once Chenle sits down, Taeil crosses his arms and leans back against his chair. "I've noticed you guys went against Doyoung's instructions and decided to go find Lee Taeyong on your own." Donghyuck chokes on his tea, and Jeno drops the muffin in his hand in shock onto the plate. Jaemin sighs and turns to the dragon. "So what if we are? We don't want to sit back and watch you and the other hyungs do all of the work. We want to help." </p><p>"Yeah, but you guys are the people they want. You guys are the item the DokZuZhi are willing to trade for. Especially-" Taeil points a finger at Jaemin specifically. "-you." The hybrid ignores the looks his friends are giving him and keeps talking. "Still, we want to help. You said we need to take them down right? Well, why not let us find Taeyong hyung? Having us practice using our tools over and over again isn't going to help us take down a organization filled with poisonous gas elementals." </p><p>The dragon nods. "Yeah, but practice is good" he rebuttals. </p><p>"Exactly! We can practice with this mission!" </p><p>"You call saving someone's life, practice??" Taeil asks. Jaemin closes his mouth and adjusts his seating. Taeil shakes his head and takes a sip of his tea. "I'm not going to tell Doyoung. I feel bad whenever he yells at you guys. However, I'm not going to let you guys continue with this mission. So just drop it and don't worry about it." </p><p>"But!" </p><p>"No buts Jaemin" Taeil says. "I know you guys want to help, but it's too dangerous. There are things you guys don't know about that could hurt you, so that's why we need you to stay low." Renjun furrows his eyebrows. After all of the things the group has found so far, he's sure he can debunk that statement pretty quickly.</p><p>"Um..actually" </p><p>Taeil takes his attention off of his muffin and on Jisung. The boy was staring at him, fists on the table showing his frustration with Taeil's words. "We actually found a lot of information regarding the DokZuZhi. Things, that I'm sure that you and Doyoung hyung don't even know about." Taeil tilts his head. "Oh? Enlighten me Elsa, what do I not know about the organization that I've been fighting with more then ten years" he says. Jisung presses his lips together and looks to Mark. The older nods and pulls up things on his phone. Once he gets what he needs, and shows some Google Docs on his phone to Taeil. The dragon takes the phone and looks at the charts and lab reports the vampire had written. </p><p>"The DokZuZhi are utilizing hybrid elemental spirits. Renjun had encountered one in District U, and we happened to find some samples of two spirits that were in the process of become a hybrid. Donghyuck, Renjun, Jeno, and Jaemin had also encountered hybrid spirits in Cherry Park when they were visiting the Great Tree." Taeil looks up from Mark's phone. Surprise was present on his face. "The Great Tree? How did you find her?" he asks. "Those with the plant elemental are able to find the Great Tree" Renjun explains. </p><p>"With these two pieces of information, we are currently studying the behavior of these hybrids. So far, there are two types, spirits that have been merged with other spirits, and those who have been merged with other beings" Jaemin explains further. Taeil furrows his eyebrows. "What do you mean" he asks. "The spirits we were fighting with in Cherry Park had abilities a revived spirit shouldn't have" Jeno says. "A fire elemental was able to turn into a wolf, and a Earth elemental was about to hold the abilities of dokkaebi." </p><p>"One of them even took control of my water and had admitted they were a merperson" Donghyuck adds on. "Not only that, they had bands around their necks, symbolizing they were hybrids. When we took them off, their bodies dissolved into these spirit orbs" Renjun says. Taeil gives Mark his phone and turns to the human. "Did the orbs come back together into a regular spirit?" he asks. Renjun shakes his head. The dragon then turns the rest of the group. "Is this true?" he asks them. "Half of our group had been part of the fight. Donghyuck even has a scar on his back from a lightning injury" Mark explains. "I'm fine by the way, Mark hyung is a great nurse" the merman smiles, patting Mark on his shoulder.  "Well yeah..he's a medical student" Renjun whispers to Jaemin, who snickers. </p><p>Taeil stares at the group absentmindedly. "And you're telling me that you guys figured all of this out within a week." The group nods their heads in unison. "We still got those samples if you wanna see" Chenle says. "And we can visit the Great Tree if you wanna see the fight" Renjun says after. Taeil shakes his head. "No, no. What you guys said does sort of make sense. All of the info my team had gathered leads to somewhat you guys are saying. I'm just surprised that you are all a step ahead of us." </p><p>"That's why you need to trust us on this hyung" Jaemin says. The dragon sighs and rubs his forehead and thinks. Once he gathers his thoughts he claps his hands together and sets them onto the table. "Alright, you guys impressed me, but I'm not going to let you guys do this on your own." The group share glances, then waits for what Taeil has to say. "I'm going to help you guys."  Renjun grows a smile. "Really?" he says. Taeil nods. "You guys have proven to me that you can go onto this missions. Granted it's going to be hard on your own, so let me help you." Renjun looks at Jaemin. The other only gives him a excited smile. </p><p>"I'm going to change your guy's training location from the hospital to here. However, I will only need Donghyuck and Jisung since they need help the most with their tools." Donghyuck gets into a coughing fit and drowns his whole cup. Jisung sits silently, fiddling with his fingers underneath the table. "Look, you guys have potential. Plus, your tools are the hardest to use so don't feel bad if you can't use them just yet" Taeil assures them. The words calmed the two a little, but not enough to clear the worries in their head. Renjun can tell by how they both gave the dragon a nervous smile, then immediately looked down at their laps after. "I'm also going to force Yoonoh into this." Jeno chuckles. "How so?" he asks. "For the next step, I suggest you guys go down to the police station and ask him for the city's security cameras. From there, you can track down any of the DokZuZhi and where they went." </p><p>Renjun turns to Jaemin. "We can find out where the DokZuZhi agents went after they dropped off hyung's body in the park!" he whispers. Jaemin nods. "As for the hybrid spirits, hold off of the research for now. What's important now is finding where Taeyong is. So after this, I want you guys to go straight to the police station. I'll call Yoonoh advance to tell him what's up" Taeil continues. "You're not gonna tell this to Doyoung hyung..right?" Mark asks. Taeil shakes his head. "Oh no, no, no, of course not. Even if you guys are doing a great job, it's not gonna be enough to calm him down. A angry ghost is the scariest type of ghost you know. Just make sure to keep this a secret from Doyoung AND Kun. Kun is also a bit scary when he's angry too." Oh Renjun knows from the amount of times Professor Qian yelled at his class. He doesn't want to see what happens when he becomes REAL angry. </p><p>"Who are the people we can work with that won't take our heads off?" Donghyuck asks. Taeil takes a moment to think of the list of people who don't particularly care about the group going on this mission. "When you need help, go ahead and ask me, Yoonoh, Johnny, Jungwoo, or Yuta. We can try help you as much we can in terms of magic and extra muscle as well as the things like security cameras" he answers. "Can we also ask Dejun ge?" Chenle asks. Taeil tilts his head. "I don't know, is he a snitch?" the dragon asks (which makes Renjun snicker a little). "From what I know, no he's not" Renjun answers. "Then I don't see a problem" Taeil says. "Just avoid Doyoung or Kun and you'll be fine." </p><p>The dragon stands up from the table and puts his hands on his hips. "So? What are you waiting for? Get your asses to the police station!" </p><p>.</p><p>"Do you guys remember what day they came to Cherry Park with Doyoung's body?" Detective Jung asks. He takes a seat in front of a large screen that is hooked to a computer with data from every camera in Neo City. The screen shows every district with different angles in their own sections depending on the location they are in. "It was Monday night I believe" Jaemin says. "In Cherry Park right?" Detective Jung asks, searching through the countless amount of footage the database holds. "Yes, that's correct" Mark answers. The detective minimizes the default window of all of the angles and puts it the side. He pulls up another window filled with footage of different parts of Cherry Park. Then, he fast forwards the footage to late at night.</p><p>"Around what time?" he asks. "Around 9 and 10pm" Renjun answers. Detective Jung nods and continues to watch the footage on the screen. "Not many people come to the park at that time, so it might be easier to spot these people, especially if they're carrying a unconscious body" he says. They continue to watch the footage longer before Chenle spots the two DokZuZhi agents walking through the park. "Stop the footage!" Jeno says. Detective Jung presses pause. Renjun squints to take a closer look on the screen. "Yeah, that's them" he says. "Where's Doyoung hyung though?" Mark asks. Renjun scans the large screen for the certain area the two men had dropped Doyoung at. </p><p>"What's that black screen supposed to be?" Donghyuck asks. He points his finger to a black corner of the hundreds of camera angles. Detective Jung looks at the screen then thinks. "I believe that is an area near the playground. It's between two patches of large bushes with a bunch of trees in the back." Renjun snaps his fingers. "That's the area they dropped the body at. It must be blacked out because the Great Tree might've done it." Detective Jung nods his head. "Good thinking Renjun" he says. He reverses the footage a little. The little black screen turned into a image of grass and some bushes. The detective pauses it then fast forwards a bit until the two agents came into view with Doyoung's body. The boys watch closely as the agents bicker with each other, then start to threaten the plants around them. Then suddenly, the screen turns black. Detective Jung tries to play audio from that specific screen, but all that came out from the speakers was static. </p><p>"Alright, we got that figured out. Let's see where these guys went" Detective Jung says. He fast forwards the footage again, eyes on the screen for the two men. "There!" Jisung says, pointing at the agents running to a specific district. Detective Jung pauses the footage and maximizes the specific angle. "They went to District V." Renjun turns to Detective Jung. "District V? Not District U?" he asks. Detective Jung shakes his head. "This camera points to the pathway that leads from Cherry Park to the entrance to District V. You can tell by that little sign that says "District V in Chinese." Renjun looks back at the screen. He was right, there was a sign that reads exactly that. </p><p>The detective tells Jeno to go to a closet in the back of the room and grab a USB from a container marked "empty." "When we find the footage, you guys can download it and look back at it again at home" he says. Donghyuck scrunches his nose. "That's legal for us to do that?" he asks. Detective Jung turns to the merman and shrugs. "Eh, I'm allowing you guys to do it so I guess it is." </p><p>The laws here confuse Renjun. He's lucky he isn't a law student. </p><p>When Jeno comes back with a USB, Detective Jung had already opened a file filled with footage from District V. He starts to go through all of them until the two agents are finally found, limping back to where they came out of. The group watches the footage intensely. They watch how the men limp to a specific alleyway, hidden from the public. It was strange how they went into the middle of the street market, but managed to not be seen by other people. They couldn't see where their destination was as there were no more cameras in where they arrived. "That's strange" Renjun says. "I'm sure the people there should've seen them walking. What pathway did they use?" Detective Jung flips through a few more angles and sighs. "That's a good question. They managed to dodge all of the other cameras in the market too." He gestures for Jeno to give the USB, then plugs it into the computer tower. </p><p>"So what should we do? Just follow their steps?" Jaemin asks. "Yes and no. We don't know that area yet, so it's better to first scope out the area and see what is there, then come back with a plan. I suggest to avoid anyone you deem to be suspicious because you're only going there to spy, not fight." The boys nods in unison. "You can go there tomorrow, around 9 or 10 at night. While that's happening, I'm gonna need Donghyuck and Jisung to come to Taeil's flower shop for some training. I'll be there along with Jungwoo to help you." </p><p>After the footage is downloaded onto the USB, the group thanks the detective and go back to the dorms to conduct a plan for the next night.</p><p>.</p><p>It was around 3pm when Donghyuck and Jisung announced their leave to go to Taeil's flower shop to continue their training. Doyoung didn't question the sudden location change. He seemed to be more worried about Lee Taeyong's disappearance more then anything so he just brushed it off.</p><p>The office got fixed...kinda. The furniture were replaced by the hospital, but the ice and burn marks were still on the wall. The group's precious microwave that Doyoung had bought for them to use is still not replaced, so it still bummed them out (they complained that they have nothing to microwave their precious hot pockets in even though there's literally a cafeteria underneath them). </p><p>Not that the microwave is the main point here. </p><p>(Renjun still misses eating warm pork dim sum in the break room, but again not the point)</p><p>The main point is that today, is the day that the group is going to investigate District V. After looking through the camera footage Detective Jung had given them around 30 times (Renjun lost count after the 10th rewatch), they were able to mark a map of possible locations to scope out. Right as their shift ends at 5pm at the spirit lab, it's go time. </p><p>"I'm sure you guys will be fine hyung" Sungchan, a newly revived spirit, says. Renjun, Jeno, and Mark had assisted the earth spirit after being revived by Donghyuck (who the group and Doyoung are extremely proud of) to a hospital bed in the psychiatry ward a few floors above. "I've heard your plans over and over again in the spirit containment room. It's pretty good in my opinion" he says after taking a sip of a juice box. Renjun takes notes of the little rocks around his dark brown hair that move up and down anytime the spirit moves his head. </p><p>Jeno sighs and turns into his Samoyed form. He goes next to Sungchan's bed and jumps up onto the latter's lap and lays his head. "What's he doing?" Sungchan says, more intrigued then startled.  "He wants you to pet his head. It makes him feel better when he's stressed or nervous" Renjun explains. The earth spirit makes a O with his mouth, then starts to gently stroke the white dog's head. "I think you can take a break now Renjun. Jaemin and Chenle are coming back with that wind spirit Doyoung hyung found on the radar" Mark says. He had taken a step outside of the room to take a phone call with Jaemin. "I can stay here and take Sungchan's vitals and talk to Dr. Byun about his condition, and Jeno-" Mark and Renjun turn to Jeno who looked so tense that Sungchan started to message the dog to make him relaxed. "-Jeno can just stay here" Mark finishes. Renjun nods then waves good bye to Sungchan. "I'll make sure to tell Donghyuck to visit you when he's free" Renjun says. He gives another good bye to Mark and Jeno, then goes up back up to the lab. </p><p>When he arrives, the only people in the lab were him and Doyoung. He finished all of his tasks, and there were no spirits coming onto the radar at the moment, so he decides to get some homework done in the office on the new coffee table (with nicer chairs in Renjun's opnion). </p><p>"Hyung?" Renjun says, knocking on the door. "Door's unlocked!" Doyoung answers from the other side. After getting a reply, Renjun twists the doorknob and walks in. "Hey! How's Sungchan?" Doyoung asks, eyes glued to the screen of his computer. "Good. Mark hyung and Jeno are going to stay in his room to keep him company." The doctor doesn't say anything and only nods. Renjun raises an eyebrow at his reaction. Slowly, he creeps up from behind Doyoung's back to look what he's doing on the computer sitting on his desk. The screen was holding a Google Map of Neo City, specifically District U. </p><p>"Renjun!" Doyoung scolds. Renjun jolts and takes a step back. "Sorry hyung! I was just curious" he says guilty. Doyoung furrows his eyebrows and turns back to the computer. "I wonder if he's researching where Lee Taeyong's location is" Renjun wonders. "If that's the case, then Doyoung is looking in the wrong area"  he wonders again. Alas, he can't tell the ghost that since he will expose his friend's secret mission. Renjun doesn't say anything else and walks to the coffee table. He opens a cabinet and takes out his backpack to bring out a laptop of own. He spots some of the maps that he printed out for tonight poking out and quickly shoves it back in while also trying to not crumple it. Renjun closes the cabinet door then sets his laptop on the coffee table. </p><p>The two work in silence. The air vent blew cool air into the room, and the continuous clicks from Doyoung's mouse and the taps from Renjun's keyboard filled the absence of sound. A few minutes passed before Doyoung suddenly asked about how Renjun and Jaemin are doing. "We're doing good" Renjun says. "Though we recently fought over a cake. Jaemin wanted a vanilla one, when I wanted a strawberry one instead." Doyoung chuckles at Renjun's anecdote and finally stops looking at the screen on the computer. "He never liked strawberries, even as a kid. I tried feeding him some strawberry yogurt once, and he just slapped the cup out of my hand" he says, shaking his head. Renjun laughs in return, imagining a pissed off little Jaemin hitting a poor yogurt bottle then crossing his arms in protest. It was both endearing and annoying at the same time. </p><p>Another moment of silence pass by. Then Doyoung asks another question. "Is Jaemin opening up more?" Renjun stops typing on his laptop and thinks. He doesn't really know how to answer that one. "I'm not sure." Doyoung tilts his head. "How much of him do you know?" he asks. Well that's a interesting question. How much does Renjun know about his boyfriend who he has known for, technically, about 10+ years (even though he kinda forgot about him in a big chunk of his life)? </p><p>"Uh..I uh, know that he's a photography major. Loves coffee to the point where I am concerned. Hates strawberries, mega animal and human blood hater. Likes stuffed animals a little too much. He's a WereVamp hybrid-" </p><p>"Do you know why he's a hybrid?" Doyoung asks. Renjun closes his mouth and shakes his head. "That's the next mystery I have to solve. I've met him as a kid, and back then he was a full werewolf. I don't know when, how, and where he got his vampire abilities from." Doyoung nods and resting his head on his hand. "Yeah, it's gonna take time." Renjun smiles and nods. He knows that fact way too well. </p><p>But, there was another thing he's wondering about. "Can I..ask you about his past? I know that he lived with you for a while after his parents died, but how was he before that? He told me you were a family friend and was around him a lot" he asks. Doyoung's eyes widen a little, then go back to normal size. He begins to drum his fingers on the desk and thinks. "Well, he was the same before and after his parents passed. Weird kid, likes to talk a lot when he's comfortable, but once he doesn't like something then he doesn't like something." Doyoung pauses to click a few things on his computer then gets up from his chair to make a cup of coffee. "He liked stuffed animals ever since he was a kid. He used to have all of these bunnies, bears, and dog dolls in his room. I honestly was afraid he was gonna pass out of from all of the dust whenever I visited him" he jokes. The ghost puts his mug underneath the coffee machine and presses a button. The button causes the machine to make a low humming sound. Then, hot water starts to pour into the cup. "He still has some stuffed animals left over in my apartment in his old room. Just sitting there, all sad and collecting dust." Renjun giggles at the doctor's pitiful comment towards Jaemin's old dolls and presses save on his essay. He's not done, he just wants to gossip more about his boyfriend. </p><p>When the mug is filled with hot water, Doyoung pops in a small cup with instant coffee into the top compartment of the coffee machine closes a lid. He presses another button and the low hum starts up again. "Ooo, you know what I should do? I should show you all of his baby pictures. I can be the mom that embarrass her kid by showing their partner all of their baby photos." Renjun gasps and claps his hands. "I would love to see them!" Doyoung laughs and puts his chin between his thumb and pointer finger. "Ah yes, genius Kim Dongyoung strikes again!" he says. A little melody plays from the new clock Doyoung had installed on the wall. </p><p>It was 5pm.</p><p>A knock on the door is heard. Doyoung goes to the door and opens it. "Hey hyung, we put the wind spirit in to the containment room and got a few evidences to their past lives. Chenle is taking care of them right now" Jaemin says. "Good! Just in time too! Your shift is over." Renjun in the meanwhile quietly packs his laptop into his backpack, his heart racing. He doesn't know why he's nervous, he's done stuff that's more dangerous then this. He went into the abandoned area for goodness sake. The human sighs and gets up and puts his backpack on. Jaemin, noticing the nervous look on Renjun's face, takes his hand and squeezes it. "It's gonna be alright. We're going to find it no problem" he whispers. Renjun looks at the other's face and nods. Jaemin lets go of Renjun's hand and collects his own bag. "Let's bring Mark hyung's and Jeno's bag. They're still with Sungchan at the moment so we can meet them there" Renjun says. Jaemin says "ok" and hands over Jeno's bag to Renjun. He grabs Mark's bag to carry himself and closes the door. "Chenle! Hurry up!" Jaemin yells. </p><p>Like it was magic, Chenle walks through the office door with Doyoung and grabs his bag. Renjun notices that the younger was quite nervous too. He wasn't talking the whole day, which was odd. "Chenle are you ok? You look a little down" Doyoung asks, sipping his coffee. Chenle freezes and turns to the doctor, a small smile on his face. "O-oh, I'm fine! I'm..I just have a headache. It should go away, Jaemin hyung gave me medicine." The doctor raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything else. "Well, thank you guys again for helping out with the lab, especially the revival. I'm sure it was quite stressful since you guys were handling the ropes this time" Doyoung says, sitting back at his computer. </p><p>"Well technically Donghyuck did most of the work" Renjun says. Doyoung nods. "True, true. Alright, you guys are free to go. Have a nice weekend!" The boys thank Doyoung and walk to the doorway as quickly as they can. </p><p>"Renjun" </p><p>The human stops and turns around. "Thank you..for talking with me today. It was a nice reminder that not everyone that I love is gone." Renjun stares at the doctor for a bit, then gives him a small smile. "No problem hyung. Make sure to show me those pictures" he winks. Jaemin stops walking and peeks his head through the doorway. "What pictures?" he asks with suspicion. Renjun and Doyoung share knowing glances and laugh quietly to themselves. "Nothing for you to worry about" Renjun answers back, giving the other a quick peck before running to catch up with Chenle at the elevator. Jaemin freezes, then narrows his eyes at the doctor. "Just go already, you're giving me a migraine" Doyoung says, not taking his eyes off of the computer. Jaemin doesn't stop narrowing his eyes, but says good bye anyway and walks off. Doyoung looks up from his computer and smiles, then goes back to mark possible locations on where the DokZuZhi is keeping his lover.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So to explain why Jaemin only said his name when he introduced himself to the Great Tree, it's because he cannot lie to her. He can't just say he's a hybrid in front of Jeno and Donghyuck, but he also can't say he is just a vampire, so he decided not to say anything at all.</p><p>And to explain about saving the tree from the plant agent's blood, it's because it could damage the tree greatly. I am not sure where I had got this from (most likely from Mystic Pop Up Bar), but the blood of a dead person could damage a spiritual item or being because it is unpure, so that's why they had to avoid getting the plant agent's blood on the Great Tree. </p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0035"><h2>35. 20. Saving Lee Taeyong pt. 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Dreamies get ready to confront the DokZuZhi in District V</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hellu~</p><p>Sorry for posting the new chapter late! I had stuff going on in my personal life ^^;; Luckily, this chapter was able to go up before the week ended! </p><p>As you read the story, you will see asterisks next to certain names or words. This just indicates that there is a explanation for them in the End Notes. I try to use a lot of terms and references that relate to Korean culture or Korean mythology since the setting takes place in Korea, so instead of just leaving the term there and having you look up what it is by yourself, I decided to just put the explanation at the end huhuhuhu</p><p>Enjoy guys!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>District V's street market is split into four sections.</p><p>A shopper will usually start in the beginning of the market at the grocery section, filled with items such as vegetables and fruits. Then, there will be the seafood market, with fresh seafood that was fished off of the coast of District Dream, with material items such as clothes and crafts that follow in the next section after. The last section is a center made for performances during celebrations and booths with Chinese street food for people to enjoy. </p><p>The agents were seen in all four sections.</p><p>To search the market at the same time, the group decided to split up. Jeno searches in the grocery part, Jaemin searches in the seafood market, Mark and Chenle in the textile booths, and Renjun in the performance center. Using the maps Renjun had in his backpack, the boys can track down where the agents were last seen, and try piece together where they may have gone that day. </p><p>.</p><p>After the rest left to where they needed to go, Jeno walks around the area a bit. He scans the different store vendors at their booths and their customers. A mixture of Korean and Chinese filled his ears as he walks past. He looks up at a building behind a carrot vendor.</p><p>Bingo, the first camera. </p><p>Jeno looks down at his map. It was indeed the first camera that caught the agents walking past by. He looks back up and walks to the lady selling carrots. "Excuse me?" he asks. The lady stops tending to the carrots in her box and looks up. "May I ask you some questions?" </p><p>The lady doesn't answer and only stares at the wolf. She looks to her left then her right, then goes back to her carrots. "Ma'am?" Jeno asks again. The lady doesn't answer again and attempts to pick up a box. "Here let me help you" Jeno says, and walks over to try assist the vendor with the box. Instead of getting a thank you, Jeno gets slapped in the face, and gets yelled at in Chinese. Startled, Jeno only stares at the vendor, who is shouting something in Chinese and was pointing her finger at the wolf. "Hey, young man" a vendor next to the carrot booth says. Jeno turns to the man who is selling red peppers. "She's crazy, don't talk to her" he says in Korean with a Chinese accent. He gestures for Jeno to get away from the lady, who is still shouting at him. </p><p>The wolf complies. When he comes over to his booth, the vendor tells the carrot vendor to calm down. They both argue in Chinese, before the carrot vendor backs down, and continues with her business. "Sorry about that. What do you want to know?" the man asks. "Have you seen any people walking around here with hanbok style clothing? Specifically those walking around in black with something around their necks" Jeno asks. He catches the carrot vendor pausing, and turning her head slightly towards him. "People in black hanbok style clothing hmmm.." the man thinks out loud. "I don't see too many people wearing hanbok here. There's more Chinese people then Korean people in this street market, so if I saw one I probably would've remembered-" As the man was finishing his thought, the carrot vendor suddenly starts to throw her carrots at Jeno, yelling something in Chinese. The man yells at her back in Chinese, possibly telling her to stop. He goes over and physically holds her arms down and tells Jeno to go. "Sorry young man! I don't know anything! I hope you find who you're looking for!" the man says, trying his best to stop the carrot vendor. Jeno quickly thanks the man and hurries to the next camera, making note of the carrot vendor. </p><p>.</p><p>Jaemin looks at all of the fishes and sea creatures the vendors are selling. He feels a bit bad for all of the fishes that are laying on the ice on a stand. He kinda gets why Donghyuck forbids the group from eating fish. </p><p>"Hey kid! Do you wanna try a sample of delicious mackerel my wife has cooked? I bet it's better then the cheap ones you buy at the supermarket!" a vendor yells out. Jaemin politely declines and looks around the buildings behind the booths. "That's strange, the buildings are facing inward into the market instead of out. Are these the vendor's apartments?" he wonders to himself. He looks up and sees a camera. Jaemin looks down at his map, and confirms that it is the right camera. </p><p>"Excuse me sir!" he yells out to the vendor from earlier. "Ahhh, I knew you would change your mind! Which one do you want kid? I have a lot of fat fish ready to be sold!" the vendor says. Jaemin shakes his head, and asks if he can ask a few questions. "Sure thing! What do you want to know?" the vendor says. The first question Jaemin wanted to ask was if the vendor saw any of the agents walking around, but he instead asks about the buildings. "Why are the buildings that surround this market facing inward? Are they not supposed to face towards the street?" Jaemin asks. The vendor nods and gives a thumbs up to the hybrid. "That's a very good question. I actually don't know!" he answers. Jaemin tilts his head. "You don't live in those buildings?" he asks. </p><p>"Oh no! I actually live in District Dream like all of the other fishers here! No one really knows what's up with the buildings here, even those who worked here for a long time don't know." Jaemin nods and looks at the buildings again. They do look a bit empty, but that doesn't answer why they are placed so strangely. "If you look-" the man starts to say. He points to the left of him to the grocery side of the street market and to the right to the textile booths. "-the buildings both ways face the street, but for some reason the buildings in this section of the street market face in" he says, pointing his fingers to the street and the inside of the street market. </p><p>The hybrid thanks the man for his cooperation (and takes a sample with some good blood sauce cause why not) and looks up at the buildings again. Jaemin takes one bite of his sample and throws away his trash into a bin. He scans around for the second camera and spots it right above a door of a building. </p><p>"Interesting" </p><p>.</p><p>"Hyung! I found the second camera!" Chenle says. Mark runs over to where Chenle is, and looks up. They found the first camera at the entrance of the textile booths. This one was on a building right in a alley way between two booths. </p><p>Mark and Chenle share glances, then looks back at the alleyway in front of them. Mark puts his thumb on the ring Taeil had given him and searches for any person that may be lurking in between the two buildings. "There's no one here, but we should be careful" he says. Chenle nods. He walks over to a lady selling fabrics next to the alleyway and asks if he can ask some questions. "Sure, what about?" the young lady says in Chinese. "Have you seen anyone coming in or out of that alleyway?" Chenle asks in the same language, pointing to the space next to the lady. The vendor looks to where Chenle is pointing at and gasps. "Oh no, not people, but I did see something recently." Chenle tilts his head. "What?" he asks. The lady beckons Chenle to come closer. "A ice spirit" she whispers. The leprechaun widens his eyes. "A ice spirit?" he whispers back. The lady nods. "Everyone had seen it come out of from the alleyway. We don't know why it came out from there, but it never went BACK into there" she says. "It's the gossip of the textile section of the street market. Oh, just thinking why there's a ice spirit here is scary. Usually they're always hanging out in the scary part of District U! Why would it be here?" </p><p>Chenle looks back at Mark, then at the lady. "Thank you ma'am" and walks back to the vampire and tells him everything. "A ice spirit? From there?" he asks in whispered tone. Chenle nods. "It's probably one of their spirit agents. We should go in there with the whole group" Mark says. He takes out a pen from his pocket and marks the spot they are in on the map. "Let's look around some more." </p><p>.</p><p>So Renjun ran into a ice spirit.</p><p>Thankfully, it didn't see him, but he definitely saw it. </p><p>For some reason, all of the street food booths were closed, so this area in particular was very quiet. The lamps were on, as were the lights on the stage, but that was about it. The eerie silence scared Renjun when he stepped foot into the area. The ice spirit scared him more. </p><p>Right now, he's hiding behind a dim sum booth. He watches the spirit closely from a far. It looked like it was waiting for something. It was just floating over the platform of the stage not doing much. Renjun tries to get closer, but goes back to his spot when a wind spirit whizzes past him. "Oh god I should've came here with someone" he thinks to himself. He peeks out from behind the booth again and watches the wind spirit look at the ice spirit, then fly up to a open window of the building behind the stage. It stops mid flight when it notices the ice spirit not following it. The wind spirit turns around, and strikes the ice spirit with a wind attack, then goes into the window of the building. The ice spirit, gets blown from the wind and crashes into a podium of the stage, almost hurting its core. </p><p>After, comes out a man in black hanbok clothing with one woman, one man, and the wind spirit. The man doesn't react as aggressively as the wind spirit did towards the ice spirit, and only glares at the poor ghost. The man whispers something to the woman, who nods and bows. She then goes back into the building. The man says something to what Renjun assumes is his assistant and goes back into the building after the woman. When the door closes, the wind spirit starts to create a mini tornado around the ice spirit. Said spirit, tries to escape the tornado, not wanting to suffer the fate its being subjected to. The man, brings out some sort gun, and points it towards the ice spirit. The spirit, strikes the wind spirit with a ice attack and dodges a bullet from the man. It manages to fly from the stage until the wind spirit sucks the ice spirit back by creating another tornado. </p><p>"What is happening?" Renjun thinks. He doesn't know what to do. Does he run away or does he keep watching? Does he help the ice spirit? How does he know that the ice spirit is even on his side? </p><p>He gets his answer when the wind spirits slams the ice spirit against the wall of another building. It hurts the spirit greatly. Renjun gasps when he sees the white light of the ice spirit, flickering like a dying light bulb. </p><p>Now he knows that they're trying to hurt it. </p><p>Renjun looks around for any plants of any kind. He spots a bush and picks off a tiny branch and grows out a whip. He goes behind the booths and walks crouching down to the stage, keeping his eyes on the ice spirit. His eyes widen when the man manages to hit the ice spirit with a bullet right by its core, making it fall to the ground and loose most of its power. "That's it, just die quietly" Renjun hears the man say. The man points the gun towards the fallen ice spirit, but before he could pull the trigger, Renjun uses his telekinesis to bubble the gun and throw it against the wall and breaking it. The man and the two spirits turn around and see the human with a handmade vine whip in his hand. </p><p>"Who are you! What are you doing here?!" the man shouts. "That's none of your business!" Renjun answers and whips the man on the shoulder. The wind spirit attacks Renjun by shooting a tornado at him. The human dodges and tries to run towards the ice spirit on the floor. He gets attacked by the wind spirit again as it throw him into the air using its wind elemental. Having been used to being thrown in the air by wind spirits before, Renjun manipulates the vine in his hand into a rope and wraps it around a lamp and swings around to kick the wind spirit in the core. He succeeds, but falls ungracefully onto the stage right in front of the man. "Ow" he groans, before being being picked up by the collar and getting punched. The human winces from the impact and doges a attack from the man's bat. </p><p>He gets up from the ground and searches for his vine, only to groan again from seeing it hang from the lamp. "It looked so much easier in the movies" he thinks to himself. He dodges a attack from the man's bat, using his shield to block any blows from the blunt weapon. "Ah! This isn't working!" Renjun thinks to himself. He's fighting both the wind spirit and the man, so he can't get to the ice spirit. "It's hard to fight alone!" </p><p>Then he realizes.</p><p>"Wait! I'm not alone!" Renjun, still in his bubble, rolls off of the stage, to the bush he was hiding near earlier. "Hey! Come back here!" the man yells. Renjun pops his bubble and grabs another branch from the bush. He makes another whip and strikes it against the man's legs, making him fall to the floor. </p><p>"Chase me!" Renjun taunts, and runs into the rest of the street market. The man gets up from the ground, and follows the human into the market with the wind spirit, forgetting the injured ice spirit on the floor. </p><p>.</p><p>Oh the poor street market vendors. They didn't expect a random chase at around 7 in the night. </p><p>Running into the textile booths, Renjun notices Mark and Chenle looking around the building around alleyways and calls out their names. </p><p>"HYUNG!! CHENL- AHH!" </p><p>Mark and Chenle turn around and look in horror to see a wind spirit push Renjun into the air then uses its wind to crash him into a booth. "Renjun!" Mark yells. He tries to run over to Renjun, but notices the bat in the hand of the man chasing him. "Chenle! Go help Renjun!" he says, uses his super speed to tackle the man to the ground. Chenle in the meanwhile runs over to help Renjun, but is pushed away from the wind spirit into another booth. "Hi jiejie! I'm back!" Chenle says to the lady he talked to earlier. The lady gives the boy a scared smile, then screams when the wind spirit blows Chenle further into the wall. The leprechaun takes a chunk of it, and throws it at the spirit. He misses it and ends up hitting a stand of another vendor. "Sorry!" Chenle shouts and shrinks to his small size and runs off to the side to avoid another attack. </p><p>Renjun in the meanwhile gets up and shouts in Chinese to the vendors. "Everyone! Get out of the area or else you'll get hurt!" The vendors comply right away, gathering their things and rushing towards the seafood market. He looks to his left and sees Mark fighting the man. The older dodges the a few attacks of the man's bat, using his vampire agility and speed. He then turns into his bat form and flies around the man. He turns back into his normal form and hits the back of the man with his palm. The man falls flat face first onto the ground. Renjun uses his telekinesis to take his bat from him and launch it into the wall next to where the wind spirit was. </p><p>"Chenle switch!" he shouts in Chinese. Chenle shrinks down to dodge another wind attack from the spirit. When the wind spirit turns around, it is met with attack from Renjun instead of Chenle. The latter was busy helping Mark fight the man who got up and returned a attack of his own to Mark's back, making the vampire fall onto the floor. The man summons his bat from the wall, but it gets pushed back by a boulder Chenle manipulated. The leprechaun then takes a small rock from the ground and uses it to knock the man out. It succeeds and the man falls unconscious onto the ground. "Hyung!" Chenle says, and runs over to where Mark is to help him up. "Thanks Chenle" he says. He groans from the pain in his back and straightens himself up. He and Chenle get startled by a large noise, coming from Renjun being thrown into the booth again. </p><p>"Guys! Get Jaemin! We need to knock this spirit out!" Renjun shouts. "How do we do that!?" Chenle yells back. Renjun avoids another wind attack from the spirit, but then gets thrown up into the air. "Just go get him!" Mark says to Chenle, and uses his super speed to where Renjun will land. He catches the human, who thanks him and tries to encase the wind spirit into a bubble. It doesn't work as the wind spirit is very fast. "Chenle! Go tell Jaemin that there's a ice spirit back at the stage who's very hurt! Hurry!" Renjun yells. Chenle widens his eyes and nods. He runs over to the seafood market to get Jaemin while Mark and Renjun distract the wind spirit from following him. </p><p>When he enters the seafood market, Chenle meets with both Jaemin and Jeno, who are walking around the market with confused looks on their faces while the vendors of the market are quickly packing their things and fleeing from their booths. "What's going on??" Jeno asks. "Renjun and Mark are fighting a wind spirit, and there's a ice spirit that is very injured back at the stage center!" Chenle explains. Jaemin and Jeno both share glances. Jaemin then uses his super speed to run towards the stage while Jeno turns into a wolf and runs with Chenle to where Renjun and Mark are. </p><p>Upon arriving at the battle scene, Jaemin gets pushed back from a wind attack by the wind spirit, getting knocked right in front of Jeno and Chenle's feet. "I hate wind spirits" he grumbles. Chenle helps him up, and the trio run together to the textile market where Mark and Renjun are still trying to stop the wind spirit from damaging any more of the market. </p><p>"Great you're finally here! How do you knock a spirit out?" Renjun asks, before running away from a wind attack from the spirit. "You can't knock a spirit out without killing it!" Jaemin shouts, and moves away from another wind attack. Chenle makes a ramp from the floor which Jeno uses to run up and try to tackle the wind spirit in the air. He is only met with a blast which pushes him back on to the ground like how Jaemin had. "What do we then??" Mark yells. Jaemin opens his mouth to answer, but gets thrown up into the air before doing so. "Really? Do you really have to do that??" Chenle yells, then gets pushed back by the wind spirit into a Jeno who had just gotten up from the ground. "Sorry puppy!" the leprechaun says, patting Jeno on the face. </p><p>In the air, Jaemin turns into a bat and flies back down to where the others are. "Trap it into a area that's strong enough to hold it!" he says after turning to his normal form. Mark looks at the hybrid and nods. He looks over to where Chenle and Jeno are, and turns back to Jaemin. "You and Renjun go get the ice spirit, we'll hold off this one!" Mark says. Jaemin says ok and gestures for Renjun to run with him to the stage. The human nods and follows him. </p><p>Jeno and Chenle come back as Jaemin and Renjun leave for the stage. "Jeno! District the spirit with me! Chenle, use your elemental to make something to trap the wind spirit! It should hold it since it's only wind!" Jeno and Chenle give an ok. Jeno runs over to where Mark is and Chenle goes behind the booths. The vampire and wolf distract the wind spirit for a while, by going left and right. Then, they begin to lead it to the seafood market, away from the stage center. "Bet you can't reach us from down here!" Mark shouts at the spirit. Jeno turn into his normal form, and sticks his tongue out. "Merong*!" he shouts. The spirit glows a darker shade of purple from annoyance and frustration and floats closer to the ground. It shoots a tornado towards the boys who jump the sides to avoid it. The ghost moves to attack one of them but gets stopped by a wall that was risen from the ground. Another wall rises from the back and the sides of the spirit, then finally a roof completes the rock box. Chenle runs up to the box from behind. Jeno and Mark run to it from the sides in the front. They anticipate a burst of wind to burst the box open, but thankfully, it doesn't. They can only hear the puffs of air coming from the inside. "I'm pretty sure it'll tire itself and stop. Let's just leave it here, and uh.. not touch it" Mark says. Jeno and Chenle say "agreed" in unison, and run to the stage center with Mark to help Jaemin and Renjun with the ice spirit. </p><p>.</p><p>During the fight with the wind spirit, Renjun and Jaemin run to the stage center and try to look for the ice spirit. "There!" Renjun says, pointing to the flickering white light by the stage. Jaemin runs to the spirit using his super speed, and checks its conditions. "It's still alive" he says when Renjun arrives. The human breaths a sigh of relief. "Should I grow a Moon Cherry Blossom?" he asks. Jaemin shakes his head. "No, that won't work with a literal spirit. We have to take it to Taeil hyung to fix it's spirit level." </p><p>Jaemin carefully picks up the ice spirit with his hands. The spirit moves a little, turning to Jaemin. It panics weakly, and tries to get out of the hybrid's hands. "Oh no! Don't worry! We're not here to hurt you!" Jaemin says. The spirit doesn't believe those words and tries to fly off of his palms. Renjun comes over and tries to help him calm it down. "We're not here to hurt you. Do you remember me? I saw you get hit by that man and the wind spirit earlier." The ice spirit stops moving and looks up at Renjun. It stares at him for a while, then points its tail towards the vine hanging from the lamp. Renjun smiles and nods. "Yes, that was me. This is my boyfriend, Jaemin, and I'm Renjun. We're going to help you. Do you know Moon Taeil?" The ice spirit nods. "We're going to take you there with our friends to heal you." Jaemin says. "We need to put you into a bubble if that's ok." The ice spirit looks back at Jaemin and thinks. It nods slightly. </p><p>The hybrid smiles and looks at Renjun. "How comfortable is your shield?" he asks in a quiet tone. Renjun gives a thumbs up. "Pretty comfortable in my opinion" he answers. He takes his hands and encases the ice spirit into its own little shield. Renjun and Jaemin breathe a sigh of relief after seeing the ghost relax a little. </p><p>"Guys!" </p><p>The couple turns to see Jeno, Mark, and Chenle running up to them. "Did you trap it?" Jaemin says, getting up from the ground. "Yup! Chenle trapped it into a little earth box. It's probably tired out by now" Jeno says. Renjun gets up with the ice spirit in his hands. "Good, let's go to the car quick so we can get this guy to Taeil hyung." </p><p>.</p><p>After making sure the wind spirit is sealed in the earth box Chenle made (it became tired and stopped trying to get out like Mark had said), the group got into the car and drove to District U. All of the vendors seemed to have gone home, so they didn't worry about the man waking up and attacking any of them. </p><p>Quickly, they parked on the street and got out of the car. They all ran to the flower shop, the ice spirit in Renjun's hands. The lights were off, and the closed sign was up. Jaemin tries to open the door but it doesn't budge. He bangs on the door and yells for Taeil. "Hyung!! Hyung!!" he yells out. "What if he went home!" Chenle says worriedly. "I'm sure he didn't, Donghyuck and Jisung are still training" Mark replies. Jaemin continues to bang on the door until the lights come on. A sweaty Donghyuck comes running from the back and opens the door. </p><p>"Taeil hyung already set everything up, come in quickly!" he says. The group follows the merman to the back porch of the shop. Taeil and Jisung were waiting anxiously at the table, a bowl of water and spirit essence sitting on the surface. Donghyuck opens the slide door and lets Renjun in first with the ice spirit. Taeil and Jisung gets up from the table as they see him walk in. "Move out of the way guys" Taeil says calmly. He guides Renjun to the table and instructs him to let the spirit into the bowl of water. Renjun pops the bubble, letting the ice spirit climb into the bowl. A bright white light glows from the inside of the bowl, changing the small blue water orbs into white icy ones. "Jisung, freeze the bowl a little. It'll heal faster in the cold" the dragon says. Jisung nods and covers the bottom of the bowl in frost. The ice spirit begin to relax, the light and color coming back to its form. </p><p>"This little guy is gonna have to rest here for a while" Taeil says, looking at the spirit. "I'm going to need to give it physical therapy before it can get back up and fly around again." Jaemin looks at the spirit. "Can we take it back to the lab for revival?" he asks. Taeil shakes his head. "Let it fly around in its own space for a while. It's better for spirits to fly around freely before being limited to a little space like the compartments back at the lab." Renjun nods and watches the ice spirit curl up and go to sleep.He's never seen a ice spirit so peaceful like this one. All the ice spirit he's seen always attacked and shot ice spikes at him. Gotta say, because of that experience, he isn't that fond of ice spirits.</p><p>Well except this one, Renjun thinks this one's pretty cute. </p><p>Taeil turns to the group. "Sit down, I'm sure you guys are hungry. I'll go call Jungwoo to make some sandwiches for you guys. In the meanwhile, tell me everything that has happened." </p><p>The group sits down at the table, careful of the spirit in the bowl. Taeil tells Jaemin to give the spirit to him so he can put it in his apartment, which sat on top of the flower shop. When he came back, the group tells every thing that had happened. "It's good you guys tired that wind spirit out instead of hurting it. If you weakened it too much, it would've been as injured as our friend" Taeil says. He hands towels to Donghyuck and Jisung for them to wipe their sweat. Renjun can tell they worked hard in training today. He's never seen them this sweaty and tired before. </p><p>"Did you guys see anything on the mission? Other then the spirit things" Jisung asks, after unfreezing Donghyuck's water bottle. The rest of the group takes a moment to think. "There was this crazy lady who threw carrots at me" Jeno says. Donghyuck chokes on his water and starts to laugh. "What? Why?" Jisung asks. Jeno shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know. Any time I tried to ask her something or talk to her, should would yell at me in Chinese. The guy next to her booth had to help me, but he didn't have any info." Taeil nods, and looks at the other boys who went to District V. "The buildings in the seafood market were weird" Jaemin says. The dragon tilts his head. "How so?" he asks. </p><p>"There's buildings behind all of the booths. All of them were facing towards the street on the outside of the market, except for the buildings in the seafood market which were facing in" Jaemin answers. Mark snaps his fingers. "Chenle and I saw a alleyway in the textile market. One of the vendors said they saw an ice spirit come out from it. We didn't look into it though, since it could've been dangerous to go without the whole group." Taeil nods again. "That's good thinking right there" he says. The table then turns to Renjun for a report. The human only stares at them and blinks. "Well..I'm sure you know what I found" the human says with a little smile. </p><p>Though after he says that, he realizes something. "Actually, I did see something else. When I arrived at the center, I caught the ice spirit just floating on the stage, as if it was waiting for something. Then I saw the wind spirit fly pass by and into the window of the building behind the stage. It came out through the door on the ground floor with the man, a woman, and another man who seems to be their boss. After the boss and woman left, the man and the wind spirit was trying to kill the ice spirit for some reason. The man even pulled out a gun which was the reason why the ice spirit was so severely damaged." </p><p>"A gun?" Taeil asks. The dragon takes a moment to think about all of the fighting styles the usual DokZuZhi agents had. "They don't fight with weapons, they usually fight with their poisonous gas elemental" he says after thinking for a while. Mark furrows his eyebrows. "He fought with a bat though" he says. Chenle takes a sip from his water cup and nods. "I think he was a dokkaebi." </p><p>Taeil's phone starts to ring. He picks it up to answer. "Ok, I'll be there" he says. "It's Jungwoo with the sandwiches, I'll be back" he says, and gets up from the table to go to the front door of the shop. </p><p>The boys in the meanwhile keep discussing. "Did that dokkaebi had a band around his neck like the one back at the Great Tree?" Donghyuck asks. Renjun shakes his head. "If he did, I would've defeated him no problem by myself." They stop to connect all of the clues together. Their thoughts are interrupted when the slide door opens to reveal a happy Jungwoo walk in with some sandwiches, a tired Johnny, a disinterested Yuta and a Taeil walk through. "Oh good the whole group is here! Should I call Yoonoh hyung?" Jungwoo says, setting down the sandwiches and drinks on the table. "Nah, he has a case he's gotta solve, so he's staying at the station overnight" Johnny says. </p><p>"Yo" Yuta greets. The group greets their older comrades while Taeil gets more chairs for them to sit on. Once everything is settled down, the conversation gets picked up again with Jungwoo, Yuta, and Johnny getting updated on what's new. "A dokkaebi with a gun? Now that's hilarious, but not as hilarious as Jeno getting attacked by a carrot lady"  Jungwoo jokes. Jeno pouts and takes a bite of his sandwich. "Since when did the DokZuZhi have agents that were elementals though? Are you sure you guys saw properly?" Johnny asks. The group nods their heads. So far, they have all seen agents that were anything but poisonous gas elementals. </p><p>"That's the weird part that I can't figure out" Taeil says. "Dang, well if the dragon here doesn't know then I think we're pretty much screwed" Yuta says. While Johnny scolds Yuta for being overly pessimistic (The Chef argued by saying "it's not pessimistic, it's REAListic"), Renjun sits quietly in his own thoughts. Jaemin looks at him, and his uneaten sandwich. Worried he would be hungry, the hybrid tells Renjun to eat. "You haven't eaten much today because of the mission" he whispers. Renjun snaps out from his trance and looks up. He smiles at Jaemin and nods. "I'll eat, don't worry." </p><p>"Why did the carrot lady throw carrots at you?" Donghyuck asks out of the blue. Jeno stops mid sip of his Coca-Cola. "I dunno, she just did! The man told me she was a loose in a few screws, but that doesn't seem to be it" he says after swallowing. "Then, what's the actual reason as to why she chucked carrots at you?" Jisung asks before biting into his sandwich. The table turns silent as everyone tries to come up with a reason. Then, one of them thought of something. "What did you ask the man? Did you ask him about the DokZuZhi?" Johnny asks. Jeno thinks for a second, then sways his head left to right. "I didn't say their name, but I did ask the man if he saw the agents. I described what they wore, and that's when the woman started to throw carrots at me." </p><p>"She probably was threatened by them then" Jaemin says. The table turns their attention to the hybrid. He was looking down at the table, as if the fries were the most interesting thing in the world. "That is a possible cause" Taeil says. "If she was acting really nervous and fidgety, to the point where she had to attack you with a vegetable, then it's maybe because she was scared." Renjun takes a fry and pops it into his mouth. He swallows it, then asks about the buildings. "Where they connected in anyway? Like did they have gaps between them?" Mark and Chenle shakes their head. "Not that I remember" Chenle says. Jaemin waves his pointer finger, then looks up at Renjun. "But the buildings in the grocery market had gaps in them. The rest of the other buildings didn't." </p><p>"So..What does that mean?" Donghyuck asks. "It means that the buildings could've been connected!" Renjun says. "Think about it, the buildings from the seafood market all the way to the stage center were connected. There were no gaps, other then the alleyway Mark hyung and Chenle saw." Chenle gasps and claps his hands. "That's why a ice spirit came out of there! That's where they're hidden!" Johnny and Yuta let's out a "eyyy" in unison. "There's no way" Johnny says. "Yeah, they would be more secretive then that" Yuta adds on. </p><p>"The man I talked too said he never saw them before. He told me that if he saw people walking around with hanbok on, he would've remembered, so they somehow were still hidden" Jeno says. "Yeah, the customers at the street market are 98% Chinese. That's why most of the vendors there don't know how to speak Korean" Renjun says. Jungwoo nods and puts down the sandwich he just bit into. "I can confirm, I have to buy my veggies from specific vendors cause they're the only ones who know how to speak Korean." Donghyuck takes sip form his drink, the sounds of a empty cup erupting from his side. Mark takes the cup out of his hand and gets up to throw it away. "Oh thank god, I thought my ears were gonna bleed" Yuta says. Donghyuck puts his arms on the table after thanking Mark. "Ok, so the buildings are connected. What does that have to do with creepy carrot lady" the merman asks. Renjun snaps his fingers and points at his best friend. "It means, that the creep carrot lady is the agent's eyes and ears." The whole table, including Mark who came back, turn their heads towards the human with confused expressions on their faces. "Ok, even I'm confused" Jisung says. </p><p>Renjun sighs and places his hands on the table. "Think about it, we left the ice spirit alone back at the center, in front of the building where the boss dude came out of. Wouldn't it be convenient for them to just take it and kill it right away while we were fighting the man and the wind spirit?" Taeil let's out a understanding "ahh."  "So you're saying, that lady snitched on you guys and reported it to the main agents." The eyes of the group widen. "Wait what?" Mark exclaims. Taeil nods, his arms crossed on his chest. "That makes sense. If the dokkaebi was really..well a dokkaebi, then he would've used his power on you guys fully. You didn't catch them, they caught you." </p><p>Yuta lets out a low whistle and takes one last bite of his burger. "Damn, we gotta teach you guys how to be more sneaky" he says while chewing ("What's up with these people and talking while chewing??" Renjun thinks). "We know how to be sneaky!" Chenle says in a offended tone. "Yeah! I always sneak a bite of my lunch during my shift without you knowing!" Jeno says. Yuta looks at Jeno and nods. "Yes, I know, I always see you do it whenever you think I'm not looking" he deadpans. Jeno opens his mouth to say something, then decides not to and stuffs five french fries into his mouth. "Wait I don't get it still though" Jisung says. Chenle shakes his head and puts his arm around Jisung's shoulder. "Basically-" Jisung stops him by putting his burger into his mouth. "No I meant, how did the lady report that fast? You guys were only there for like what, an hour??" </p><p>"Maybe she didn't report, but there was some kind of device near her that reported instead. That's why she was trying to shut Jeno up" Taeil says. "Ok, then here's a better question. Why can't people see the DokZuZhi? The cameras caught them so they didn't use a potion, but for some reason everyone else didn't see them walk pass by" Donghyuck says. "If most of the buildings are made to be their hiding place, then the vendors must know something. Think of how convenient it was for no one to be at the stage center today. Even if there were no performances today, there should've been some vendors at the street snack booths" Jaemin answers. Donghyuck furrows his eyebrows, but doesn't say anything else. Jisung looks at the older, then looks back at the table. The french fries look mighty intriguing today. </p><p>"The main problem was that they know you guys were there" Taeil says. "We need to act fast, the sooner we save Taeyong, the better." Johnny nods his head towards Taeil and smiles. "What mighty plan do you have, Water Guardian?" The dragon glares at the wolf and turns to the rest of the group. "I don't have anything just yet, and I don't want to make one." The table share confused glances then look back at Taeil. "Let's hear what the boys have to say, and maybe we can make a good enough plan to finally step foot onto DokZuZhi ground." </p><p>The group look at each other, and all smile at the same time (scaring Yuta and Jungwoo a bit). "Alright" Mark says. "Here's what we think." </p><p>.</p><p>"Are you feeling ok?" Renjun asks. Donghyuck looks up from his phone and nods, then looks back down. Renjun and Mark share glances and look at the merman. "Are you sure you're ok?" Mark asks. Donghyuck groans and puts his phone down. "Yes, you guys have been asking me the same question for the past hour!" </p><p>"Not really the past hour, more of the last 5 minutes." </p><p>"That doesn't make it better Huang." </p><p>The group decided to have a sleepover at Donghyuck's and Jeno's dorm after their trip to Taeil's flower shop. No reason really, they just wanted to hang out with each other and their pets. </p><p>(They were also low key scared of separating from each other you know..just in case some ice spirit freezes one of them to death or something) </p><p>A knock on Donghyuck's door causes the three to look up. The door opens to reveal a Jeno standing in the doorway with his sleepwear on. "Come my friends, it's mental health awareness time." Donghyuck raises his eyebrows. "Mental health what now?" he asks in a sarcastic tone. Jeno narrows his eyes at the merman, then softens his expression to coerce his cat to come with him. Geran*, being the tsundere she is, doesn't move and curls up more tightly in Renjun's lap. Jeno pouts then walks away, muttering something about how he's going to play with Pangxie* more now instead of Geran. Renjun giggles, and pats the black cat's head. Geran lets out a stretched out meow, and jumps out of the human's lap to walk into the living room, the three students following her. </p><p>When they enter the living room, they see Chenle and Jaemin holding Jisung down on the couch against his will while Robert and Pangxie are playing with a ball (with Pangxie pitifully trying to push the ball back to the duck). "The fuck?" Donghyuck says. Jeno looks at Renjun and Mark and nods his head. They nod their head back and grab Donghyuck by the arms and makes him sit down at the couch. "Hey! Let me go!" Donghyuck yells out. </p><p>"Lee Donghyuck and Park Jisung!" Jeno exclaims. The mentioned boys look up at the werewolf who has his hand up in the air like he's Freddie Mercury at the Live AID concert. "You have been down ever since we came back from District V, so that either means that training was a bust or that you really hate us, which by the way if that was the case then I am extremely hurt." Donghyuck rolls his eyes for like the 10th time this night, and attempts to kiss Renjun, who let's go of his arm and runs away from the couch in protest. "Hey that's my boyfriend!" Jaemin says, letting go of Jisung's arm in order to attack the merman. Jisung, having one arm free, tries to get up from the couch, but gets sat back down with Chenle placing his butt on his lap. </p><p>"Get off of me you're heavyyy!" Jisung complains. Chenle shakes his head and crosses his arms. "No!" he exclaims. Jisung furrows his eyebrows and pushes Chenle off his lap. He gets up from the couch, then gets stopped by Jeno, who pushes the fae back onto the couch. "Stay! Or else I'm gonna kick you out of our clan on PUBG!" Jisung crosses his arms and sticks his tongue out. "Try me! I bet I can win better by myself!" he protests.</p><p>Donghyuck in the meanwhile is busy wrestling Jaemin with Mark and Chenle sandwiched between them. "You have your own boyfriend to kiss!" Jaemin says. "I don't want him to move away from me, so I tried to kiss Renjun to make him run away! Ow! You know that part of my face hurts the most Na!" </p><p>Typical Dream chaos. </p><p>Where's Renjun you asked? He's busy sitting in the corner with the pets. He would usually try to get the group to stop, but he's too tired so he's playing shell cards with the animals. "Hey! You cheated!" he exclaims, pointing at the amount of shells Robert is hiding under his feet. The duck quacks and puts a shell in the pile in the middle of their circle which makes Renjun gasp. "You're definitely cheating you duck!" </p><p>"ALRIGHT!!" Mark shouts. He wrestles his way out of the JaemChenHyuck sandwich and gets up from the couch. "Jeno and Jisung stop arguing about PUBG, we both know you're too good at the game, Jaemin stop fighting with my boyfriend, kissing is his self defense, Chenle stop screaming, and Renjun stop playing sea shell cards with the pets, we know Robert is going to win anyway because he always cheats!" Robert stares at his owner and just drops his shells on the floor, then waddles away while quacking defeatingly. "What! You're playing sea shell cards without me??" Donghyuck exclaims. "No! Sit your ass back down. Renjun go next to Jaemin so he has something to hug." Renjun puts his cards down and goes to sit next to Jaemin, who happily hugs him. Renjun smiles a bit and just lays his head on the hyrbid's shoulder.  Mark sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Hyuck, Jisung, we know your tools are hard to use, but don't beat yourself over it ok? Also if you don't feel good about training, you can always talk to us about it" he says. Donghyuck tsks. "That's easy for you to say, you guys know how to use your tools, that's why you got to go to District V!" </p><p>Renjun pecks Jaemin on the cheek and gets up to stand next to Mark. "Look, Taeil hyung is making us use these tools because it'll help us in the end, but right now it's not the end. So don't beat yourself about not being able to use your tools" he says. "Yeah, but aren't we facing the DokZuZhi tomorrow? That seems like a time when we need to use our tools to me" Jisung says. "Then use them!" Renjun says. "Even if you're bad at using them, you can still at least try." Renjun turns to Donghyuck. "You always told me during freshman year to never give up on using my powers. You shouldn't either! You're amazing at what you do, and can control your powers much more easily then most water faes!" He then turns to Jisung. "And you! The whole group has watched your growth since day 1 and compared to back then, you have grown greatly." </p><p>"Yeah! You know how to melt ice, you know how to manipulate it to your use! So what if you can't use a couple of ice bombs, you're awesome at what you do already!" Chenle says. "Hyuck, you're were able to hold that lightning lady in a water bubble! You know how advanced that is?" Jeno says. </p><p>Donghyuck and Jisung share glances, then looks at the ground. They're still not convinced. Jaemin grabs their attention by sighing and getting up from the couch. "Look-" he starts. "-From what I've seen, none of us use our tools often, that's why we called them "tools", they help us when we need it. You guys are pros at your elementals, I don't understand where this lack of self confidence is coming from. If you need to say something you can say it." Donghyuck tilts his head. "Well you shouldn't be the one talking about saying things to their friends. Why should I spill my thoughts when you can't even tell us about anything ever?" Donghyuck snaps back. </p><p>The group, except for Jisung, stares at the Donghyuck, stunned. The merman doesn't take mind, and gets up from the couch. "If what you guys are trying to say is that we don't HAVE to use our tools, I'm all for it! But don't talk about venting or ranting, if YOU don't make the effort to" he says. He looks at Jaemin then at the rest of the group. "I'm going to go to bed, tomorrow is gonna be a long day." Renjun tries to go to Donghyuck, but Mark stops him. "I'll talk to him" he says, and walks to Donghyuck's room. Renjun sighs and looks at Jisung. The fae doesn't say anything and only stares at the ground. He looks up to see his friends looking at him. "Hyung and I had a really hard time with controlling our tools today. Our tools are more like weapons. That's why they're so hard to use" he explains. Renjun, and Jaemin soften their expressions. Jeno sighs and leans against the couch. Chenle only waits for Jisung to continue. </p><p>"So just understand that even if we're good at our elementals, like what you guys said, these to- no, weapons are still really hard. They're not like Jeno hyung's whistle or Mark hyung's ring." </p><p>"Don't feel pressured to use your bombs Jisung" Jeno says. "Yeah, we should talk to Taeil hyung about this, but for now don't worry about them. Just focus on kicking some DokZuZhi ass tomorrow" Renjun says. Jisung scoffs, but smiles while doing so. "Alright, I will. Thanks hyungs." </p><p>"No problem Jisung" Jaemin says. "We should get some rest now. Like what Donghyuck said, tomorrow is gonna be a long day." </p><p>The group nods. It is going to be a long day tomorrow, </p><p>and they're ready for it. </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun woke up the next morning to a notification from his phone.</p><p>"Please come see me with Donghyuck and Jisung in my classroom please." the text message said. It was from Professor Qian. The human slides down his notification bar to see the time. </p><p>11AM, 6 more hours till the group has to go to District V. </p><p>Might as well go to get the nervous feeling out of his system. He stretches his arms, almost hitting Jaemin's head. He then slowly untangles himself from the sleeping bag and Jaemin's arms and sits up, facing the couch. Jisung was sleeping peacefully by himself (he won rock paper scissors yesterday and got to sleep on Jeno's surprisingly comfy couch), blanket wrapped around his body like a tortilla that wrapped a burrito and a lovely Jojo Siwa pillow (Renjun still doesn't know why Donghyuck had to buy this particular item during his time in Canada) supporting his blond head. </p><p>It was a peaceful sight. </p><p>Renjun rips the blanket off of the boy causing him to roll off the couch. </p><p>"Oww" the fae groans. He gets up while rubbing his head and looks up at Renjun with sleepy eyes. "Why did you do that to me" he says, voice still in sleeping mode. "Professor Qian wants to see us, come on" Renjun replies, and gets up from his own sleeping area to get to Donghyuck's room. He hears Jisung grumble something about wanting to sleep in until his eventual doom, and opens Donghyuck's door. </p><p>Of course the motherfucker had to sleep with his boyfriend. Don't get him wrong, Renjun slept with his boyfriend too, but he isn't the one waking everyone else up when they're planning to sleep until like 2. </p><p>He's just thankful Robert is sleeping in Jeno's room. Last time he had a sleepover with the duck in the same apartment, Robert started to quack like a missile alert when the human woke up to get water. </p><p>Gathering up his strength, Renjun walks over to Donghyuck's bed and starts to rip off Mark's arms off of the merman's body. The vampire starts to whine, and hugs Donghyuck closer to his body which makes Renjun smile and cringe at the same time. </p><p>He tries to get Mark's arm off of Donghyuck again, but the dude decides to use his freaking vampire strength to cling onto Donghyuck tighter. </p><p>Great, gotta get Jaemin. </p><p>So there Renjun went back into the living room where Jisung was sitting on the couch, staring at the wall while WII lobby music was playing in his head. </p><p>He pokes Jaemin's arm not one, but 5 times. The hybrid mumbles about something and turns away from Renjun. Running out of patience, Renjun shakes the hybrid awake. "Wake up you coffee induced teddy bear" he whispers while aggressively shaking Jaemin awake. The taller finally opens his eyes and pops up from his sleeping bag like a jack in the box. "Ughhh" </p><p>"Stop groaning like a zombie and help me wake Hyuck" </p><p>"Ughh?" </p><p>Renjun looks at Jaemin and gives him a unamused look. He gestures for Jaemin to get up, and gets a finger as a response. "Wait, I'm still sleepy" Jaemin says in a raspy voice (which may or may not have made Renjun blush). The hybrid takes a moment to gather his senses, then slowly rises from the ground. He gets startled by the blanked out Jisung sitting on the couch, then follows Renjun into Donghyuck's room. </p><p>"Rise and shine boys, it's hunting season" Jaemin says, hitting the wall next to the doorway. "No, I only need Hyuck, Mark hyung can hug one of his pillows just get the merman" Renjun instructs. Jaemin turns to the shorter and taps his cheeks, expecting something in return for his deed. Renjun sighs (but also smiles) and tip toes to give Jaemin a peck. "There, your payment has been given" Renjun says. Jaemin puts a finger up. "It's hard to go against vampire strength, make me coffee too." </p><p>"I'm kinda in a hurry right now, so I'll make you instant coffee." </p><p>"Ugh..fine." </p><p>Jaemin walks over to Donghyuck's bed and starts to attempt to move Mark's arms. "By the way, where are you going?" Jaemin asks. He slaps Donghyuck's face lightly to wake him up, then tries to move Mark's arms out of the way. "Professor Qian wants me, Hyuck, and Jisung in the classroom" Renjun says, watching from the doorway. One of Mark's arms finally separates from Donghyuck's torso. Jaemin pins it down and pushes Donghyuck to get him rolling off of the bed. It works, and a *thunk* is made from Donghyuck's collision to the ground. </p><p>"Ow" Donghyuck says, muffled by his face on the ground. Mark starts to stir awake too, getting up instantly to look for Hyuck. "I'm HeREEE" the merman says, waving his arm in the air to get Mark's attention. The vampire looks down at the bed then looks up at Jaemin and Renjun. "Is it time already?" Mark asks in a confused tone. Renjun shakes his head and tells Donghyuck to get up. "Professor Qian wants to see you, me, and Jisung in class." </p><p>"Why, it's Saturday, I'll turn in the essay later tomorrow" Donghyuck whines, turning to face the ceiling. "Hurry up, I already got Jisung awake...well kind he's just sitting there while staring at the wall." Donghyuck sighs and gets up from the floor. "Stupid college, not realizing my life is already busy as is" he grumbles. Renjun, Jaemin, and Mark, watch Donghyuck walk out of the room to go to the bathroom. Once he's gone, Jaemin stretches his arms. "At this rate let's just wake up the others. Hyung help me get Jeno up, he's the real problem" Jaemin says, walking out of the door. Mark rubs his eyes, then goes to follow the hybrid, Renjun going out after to make Jaemin's coffee before he leaves. </p><p>.</p><p>Honestly, what did Renjun expect. </p><p>Why would Professor Qian call the boys specifically on the weekends? What was Renjun thinking? He doesn't know. </p><p>All he knows now is that Professor Qian is barricading the boys in the classroom and is standing on his platform. Arms crossed, angry teacher/mom look on his face. </p><p>He found out about the mission. </p><p>"Wait how did you know?" Donghyuck asks. "I got intel from a particular water spirit this morning, who was helping me with lesson plans" Professor Qian answers. </p><p>God damn it Dejun. </p><p>"You know how dangerous this mission is, you know how much this means to Doyoung. So why the heck, WOULD YOU GUYS GET INVOLVED!?" Professor scolds. "We are involved! We've been involved since the beginning!!" Renjun shouts back. Professor Qian gives a pointed look towards the human, hands moving to his hips. "Do you realize that the reason you guys are involved is because you guys are the price they want?! What would've happened if you guys messed up?! You would be in their prisons right now!" </p><p>"But we've gotten so far! And, we got a lot of information by ourselves! We can do this as much as you and your little anti DokZuZhi group can do" Donghyuck argues. "That doesn't matter! You shouldn't be involved!" Professor Qian yells back. He climbs down the platform and walks over to his desk. He takes a seat and points to the clock on the wall over the white board. "Doyoung's shift starts at 11:45AM. It is currently right now 11:10. Once I get word that he's in the hospital, I will immediately tell him about this and send not only you guys, but the rest of your group to get punished." </p><p>"But!" </p><p>"And no buts! I didn't call the rest of your groups because they, are not my students. You three however! I thought I taught you guys to behave, and to use common sense! To think my OWN STUDENTS are acting like this shocks and saddens me." Renjun shares a worried glance with Donghyuck and Jisung, then looks back at the Professor. He's never seen his teacher this angry before. The human realizes that he took the Professor's nice and happy smiles for granted.  </p><p>"Give me your phones and sit at your seats till I say so. If one of your friends call, then I will tell them what happened so they don't get worried." </p><p>"WAIT!" </p><p>The room turns to Donghyuck. "How do you know that you aren't a DokZuZhi agent in disguise!?" the merman yells, pointing a finger at the wizard. He walks up to Professor Qian and proceeds to poke his face. "Where's the real Qian Kun you dirty rat!" he says. Professor Qian stares at Donghyuck, unamused. He brings up a finger and points it at Donghyuck. The merman turns around, lips unable to come apart, and a pouty look on his face. Professor Qian had put a silence spell on him.</p><p>"Yeah no that's definitely Professor Qian" Jisung says. Said Professor doesn't look up from his computer and points to the desks, gesturing for the three to take their usual seats. Renjun and Jisung quickly scuffle to their seats while Donghyuck tries to get his mouth to open. </p><p>"Lee Donghyuck" Professor Qian says in his warning voice. Donghyuck drops his hands in frustration and defeatingly walks to his seat and plops his bottom down. </p><p>What are they gonna do?</p><p>.</p><p>10 minutes passed by, and Renjun, Jisung, and Donghyuck hasn't come back to the dorm yet. </p><p>"Maybe he's explaining a project he wasn't able to explain?" Jeno says, sitting on the couch with Geran in his lap. Jaemin shakes his head. "Renjun definitely complained to me on Friday about some essay Professor Qian assigned to him, so he would've been there to assign it then." Chenle gives his hyungs a worried look. "You don't think...they're in trouble right?" he asks. Mark sighs and gets up from the ground. "Let me get my phone and send a text to Hyuck real quick." </p><p>Before he could though, a light knock is made on the door. Jeno gets up from the couch and looks through the peep hole. "Eh?" he says, and opens the door. "Sunbaes? What are you doing here?" Jaemin looks up from the ground and to the door way. Xiao Dejun and Wong Gunhang were standing in the hallway. They're in the year above Jaemin, Dejun being a TA, and a revived student in Professor Qian's class and Gunhang being Mark's roommate in medical school (Yukhei had graduated and is now a student at the Neo Police Academy). </p><p>"Hey guys! What's up?" Mark greets, coming up to the doorway by Jeno. Gunhang gives a bright smile to the vampire then slowly turns his head towards Dejun. The water spirit, expressing some sort of nervousness on his face, tries to maintain a nice smile on his face. "Dejun? Wanna tell them?" Gunhang says through his smile, teeth clenching. Dejun gives a even nicer smile and pushes Gunhang out of view. "Ok, don't kill me, it was a accident, I didn't think it would just come out of my mouth." </p><p>"Did you tell Professor Qian?" </p><p>"I told Professor Qian." </p><p>Surprisingly Jaemin was relieved. He'd rather have Renjun and them being scolded by their teacher then getting kidnapped. </p><p>Dejun on the other hand, was not relieved and felt rather guilty. </p><p>"I am really, really, really sorry! I didn't know it would slip out and-" Jeno stops him and looks out into the hallway. After seeing it's empty, he tells Gunhang and Dejun to come into the room and closes the door. "How did it slip out?" Mark asks, once the door was closed. "I don't know, I was just helping Kun ge with his lesson plans, then it just rolled out" Dejun says a little louder. Chenle tilts his head. "Gunhang ge how do you know about this?" he asks. Gunhang nods towards Mark. "Mark told me" he says casually. Jeno and Jaemin turn their heads towards Mark. "Look, he was pressuring me to tell, and I'm not the only one who spilled the beans here!" </p><p>"What do we do? Where's Renjun ge, Jisung, and Donghyuck hyung?" Chenle says, getting up from the floor. "They're in time out with Professor Qian" Dejun says, walking with the others to the couch. Gunhang snorts. "You didn't phrase it like that when you told me." Dejun glares at the ghost and looks back at the group. "Wait so they're just sitting there? Until when?" Jeno asks. Dejun looks down at the ground.</p><p>"Until Dr. Kim gets to the hospital so Kun ge can tell him" he says nervously, very high toned. </p><p>.</p><p>"Prof, may I use the bathroom." </p><p>Professor Qian nods without looking away from the computer and points to the bathroom. Jisung gets up from his desk and walks towards the door. "Uh, where are you going?" Professor Qian says. Jisung turns his body towards the wizard, hand on the knob. "T-the bathroom? I actually need to go, I'm not trying to go anywhere." </p><p>To be honest where would they go after they escape. The dorms? Professor Qian can catch them in a snap on campus. The hospital? Hell nah, that's a death trap right there. The flower shop? Possibly, but that's in the next district, too far from here. </p><p>"There's a bathroom in here" Professor Qian says. "There is?" Donghyuck asks, the silence spell finally lifted. The Professor points to a closet like room right next to the doorway of the classroom where Jisung is standing in front of. Jisung makes an O with his mouth and bows as a thank you. </p><p>Renjun in the meanwhile looks up at the clock. It was 11:35. Ten minutes until Professor Qian calls Doyoung. He sighs and looks out of the window. This is ridiculous, they're not even 6 years old anymore. Has the others notice they were gone this long? It was worrying him on how they weren't calling to see if they were ok. Are they ok? Is Jaemin ok? He would usually sense something is wrong very quickly. </p><p>The human rests his head on his hand. Donghyuck was busy trying to fall asleep right next to him, so the latter wasn't particularly in the way of the nice scenery. Renjun notices many things the maintenance had put into the fields. The pretty light blue and white flowers, which were the school's colors, in the bushes. The nicely cut grass. Dejun's head slowly poking out from the corner. </p><p>Wait.</p><p>Renjun narrows his eyes at the water spirit. He pokes Donghyuck in the side to wake up him then points to the window. The merman looks and also narrows his eyes at Dejun. The water spirit pouts and puts his hands together, pleading to be forgiven. </p><p>"Donghyuck, might be a smart idea to finish that essay that's due tomorrow" Professor Qian suddenly says. Donghyuck and Renjun turn to the front. "Oh yeah! I should finish that..do you have the laptop cart in here?" Professor Qian nods. He finishes typing some things on his computer and opens his desk to bring out the keys for the laptop cart. "Come with me" he says, and gets up from his desk. Donghyuck and Renjun share glances before he gets up and follows the wizard to the back of the classroom. Once Professor Qian and Donghyuck were out of sight, Renjun looks at Dejun who is still waiting outside of the window. The water spirit points to the door, then gestures that he's going to bust them out. Renjun answers with a OK with his hands, and turns to the back.</p><p>Professor Qian was fumbling with the keys to the laptop cart. Donghyuck looks at Renjun. The human gestures to distract Professor Qian as much as he can. The merman nods and mouths "OK."  "JISUNG HURRY UP I NEED TO USE THE BATHROOM TOO!" Renjun shouts. "OK!" the fae shouts back. A flush of the toilet and the sink sounds from the small room. Then, the door opens. Renjun jumps down and runs towards the bathroom and stops Jisung. "Get ready to freeze Professor Qian down" he whispers. Jisung looks at his hyung with wide and confused eyes. "H-huh?" he says. Renjun points to the door. "When that door opens, freeze Prof to the ground got it?!" Jisung nods and walks off. Renjun, gives one last glace at Donghyuck the goes into the bathroom. He plans to hide there until Donghyuck gives the word to run out. </p><p>"Sit at your desk and work quietly" Professor Qian says, giving the laptop to the merman. Donghyuck nods and thanks the Professor. He walks to his seat and sits a seat away from Jisung. He opens the laptop and pretends to work on it until he sees Professor Qian sitting down. He looks at Jisung who looks at the doorway. Right there and then, Dejun's head pokes up through the window of the classroom's door. Donghyuck gives a nod towards Jisung who gets up from his seat and walks towards Professor Qian's desk. </p><p>"Prof? When's the next exam?" he asks, getting closer to the professor. Donghyuck slowly gets up from his seat to get a head start. "Um, I'm not sure let me check" Professor Qian says. He opens his desk to take out his planning book. When he looks up to check on Donghyuck, he sees the other slowly inching his way towards the classroom door. The merman freezes, then shouts for Renjun. </p><p>"RENJUN GET OUT!!" </p><p>Everything went in a blur. Renjun pops open from the bathroom door. Dejun opens the door by lock picking with his water elemental, and lets Renjun and Donghyuck out. Jisung freezes Professor Qian to his chair, then his chair to the floor. "HEY!! GET BACK HERE!" the Professor yells. Jisung quickly runs out of the classroom. "Sorry gege!" Dejun shouts and closes the door. </p><p>"HEY! GET BACK!! HEY!! HEYY!!!" </p><p>.</p><p>"Thanks gege, though should I really say that since you're the one who got us in this situation in the first place?" Dejun turns to Renjun, puts his hands together, and starts to shake them. "I'm really, really sorry! It just slipped out.." Donghyuck waves his hands. "I think he's forgiven, he helped out us out in the end. Though I gotta ask-." Donghyuck points to Gunhang sitting next to Jisung on the seat behind them. "-why is he here?" he asks. "Oh, Mark told me everything. Don't worry, I've kept my lips sealed since day one" Gunhang says, crossing his arms with a proud smile on his face. Dejun tsks and turns to Donghyuck and Renjun. "He told me right after Mark told him." The ghost drops the smile and glares at the water spirit. "As if you're any better" he says, then sticks his tongue out. </p><p>Dejun, after breaking them out from the classroom, took the trio and Gunhang to the next bus to District U to Taeil's flower shop. Once they arrived, Dejun told the trio they were going to Yuta's ramen shop. "Hyung wanted us to help with tonight, so we're going there to learn all of the mechanics behind the tech" he explains. Renjun smiles and thanks his upperclassmen. "It means a lot that you're helping us out." Dejun and Gunhang smile back. "Hey, it's nothing. We spirits and ghost have to help out our fellow spirits" Gunhang smiles. He gives a thumbs up to the trio and tells them good luck. "Thanks hyungs! See you tonight!" Donghyuck says after they had gotten off the bus. They watch the bus drive back to District 127, then walk to Taeil's place where the rest of the group is waiting for them. </p><p>.</p><p>As soon as the bowl of chips were set onto the table, a bunch of grabby hands start to reach in for a piece. "Geez, you guys are like hungry little piranhas" Taeil says, sitting down at his chair. "Sorry hyung, we didn't have breakfast" Jaemin replies. He dips a large chip into his blood sauce cup and pops it into his mouth. "You guys didn't eat breakfast? What time did you guys wake up??" the dragon asks. "At around 11" Chenle replies. Taeil shakes his head and takes a chip of his own. "You guys should've woken up earlier so you could eat breakfast. You would have more energy then." Donghyuck hums and puts up a finger. "Actually, if we woke up around 5, we would have enough energy to go zoom zoom through District V since we didn't waste any energy throughout the day." Taeil stares at the merman while chewing, the gives a nod. "Yea, I guess that makes sense." </p><p>When the group had finished their bowl of chips (Taeil decided to call Jungwoo for a order of sandwiches considering on how fast the bowl of chips were inhaled), Taeil tells them to practice. "Donghyuck, and Jisung try practicing using your tools today. Don't go all out, I want you to save some amount of energy." Renjun looks at the aforementioned pair, and shares a nervous glance with the rest of the group. Donghyuck and Jisung did not look happy. </p><p>"Uh..Taeil hyung?" Taeil turns around. Mark looks at Donghyuck and Jisung, then clears his throat. "We had a discussion yesterday..and we wanted to tell you...what we thought of these..tools" Taeil raises and eyebrow, but gestures Mark to go on. "Some of us do actually find the tools useful, like Jeno and I. We like to use the whistle and ring when we can, but as for the others such as Donghyuck and Jisung. I, uh Jeno why don't you explain." Jeno widens his eyes, and whips his heads towards the dragon. "I uh..they're uh..you know, " </p><p>"We doesn't like using them." Everyone switches their attention from Jeno to Jisung. "Donghyuck hyung and I don't like using the bells and bombs. We think we can fight better without having to use them, and are more comfortable without them." Renjun's mouth hangs open. Jisung is never this vocal about something. Considering on how he spoke up about it, it seems like he really hates his tool. </p><p>Taeil in the meanwhile, was unbothered and just nodded. "Hmm, well if you don't want to use the tools then you don't have to. It's up to you to decide whether or not you're more comfortable fighting with or without them. However, the reason why I gave these tools in the first place was so that if there was ever a situation where you're stuck, you can whip them up and use them." He taps his chin, and tries thinking for a bit. "Just carry them around with you. It's possible to use them in your own way instead of the standard way." Donghyuck raises a eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asks. The dragon smiles and taps his head. "Think outside of the box when you need to use the tools. These are yours, so make it yours." Donghyuck and Jisung eye each other, then give a nod to Taeil, though they do not fully understand what he means. </p><p>Taeil gets up from his chair and announces that he's going to be in his apartment. "Ah! I need you guys to do me a favor and go to Mr. Kim's shop to get some healing potions. I have a feeling we're gonna need them tonight." He turns back and waves his hand as a good bye. "Sandwiches are gonna be here in 30 minutes so be back before then!" </p><p>.</p><p>"Sunbaes!" </p><p>The group stops in front of the rice cake soup restaurant, startled to see Gayoon, frightened. "I think, this is your field" she says, and directs them to the inside. </p><p>When they run in, a crash sounds from the inside of the open shaman shop. They look to the left and see Gayoon's mother and all of the customers crowded together against the wall. "Oh boys thank goodness you're here!" Gayoon's mother says. "A vampire suddenly came in here and barged into the shaman shop! Please help my husband, I don't want to send Gayoon there she'll get hurt!." Mark assures her that everything will be ok, and tells the customers to leave. Then, he leads the group to the door of the shaman shop. It bursts down before Mark could open the door, Mr. Kim flying out with the door and crashing against the wall. </p><p>"Dad!" Gayoon shouts, and runs up to her father with her mom. His father groans and gets up from the floor. "What are you guys doing here? Get out! You'll get hurt!" he shouts. "No, no they're here to help!" his wife says. Mr. Kim takes his wife's hand off of him and tells the group to get out. "Get out now!" </p><p>"Oh they're not going anywhere Mr. Kim." The group turns around sees a tall vampire man, come out from the destroyed shaman shop. He adorned black hanbok style clothing, with a yellow band around his neck. Lightning crackled out of his hands, which had long purple fingernails. The man smirked, showing sharp fangs from his mouth. "Oh how cute, the whole gang is here, too bad I only need one of you." </p><p>The group immediately comes together. "Not gonna happen Mr. Pointy Teeth! We're a package deal!" Donghyuck yells. "Yeah! Buy one get 6 free!" Renjun yells back. He encases the Kims in a purple shield and carries them out with his telekinesis out of the restaurant. Jisung closes the door to make sure no one else goes in or out. The vampire roars a loud laugh. "Oh really now? Well then, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to break that offer!" He creates a lightning bolt and whips it to the center of the group. They jump out of the way, and separates.  The vampire smiles even more, and tries to charge at one of them, but is stopped by Jisung freezing him to the floor. It doesn't stop him completely though as he rips his feet out of the ice and uses his super speed to charge at Jaemin into the kitchen. </p><p>"He's going for Jaemin!" Mark yells. The boys start to run to the kitchen, only to find it empty, with the back door open. "Come on!" Jeno yells, and runs with the group out the back door into a another street. They find Jaemin fighting the vampire man, dodging his lightning attacks while using his super speed. "Plant, plant, plant" Renjun thinks. He scans the area for any plants he can use. He spots a tree, but it's a baby one and was still growing. Renjun has to avoid ripping its branch off and use a leaf instead. "But what can I do with a leaf?!" he thinks. His thoughts gets interrupted when he sees that the man had launched Jaemin into a building. </p><p>"JAEM!!" </p><p>Renjun runs over to the hybrid to make sure he's ok. "I'm fine, just help the others" Jaemin groans. He points to the tree Renjun was looking at earlier. "Try make a vine rope with the leaves, it'll be weak, but it's the best you got." Renjun tries to help the hybrid up, but he pushes the human's hands off of him. "I'll heal myself don't worry, just help the others. We don't want them to get hurt." </p><p>In the meanwhile, the others charged in. Donghyuck uses his water elemental to hold the vampire in water orb and throw him further to the other end of the street. The man gets up right away and tackles him using his super speed. Not giving him time to fight Jaemin, Jeno and Jisung work together by freezing the man to the ground and tackle him back. Except, Jeno is much weaker then the man, and ends up bouncing off of him onto the street. </p><p>"Children" the man mutters and breaks free from the ice. Renjun at this time apologizes to the growing tree and rips a few leafs off. He uses his powers to connect them together and to grow a long, but weak vine rope. He spots the lightning vampire getting ready to shoot a lightning bolt at Jaemin and uses the rope to tie around his ankle. Renjun pulls and makes the man fall. The rope though, breaks. "I'll just use it as a noodle like whip" Renjun thinks and encases the man in a purple shield. Chenle then manipulates the ground beneath the man to go up and throws him onto the ground.When the man hits the ground, the shield pops open. Mark uses his own super speed to charge at the man and punches him in the gut. Jisung uses this as a advantage and freezes the man's lower half to the ground, using as much power as he can to make the ice strong. </p><p>When the ice seemed strong enough, Jisung stops. However, because of the amount of energy he used to make the ice he suddenly starts to waver, and fall to the ground. "Sung!" Chenle calls out, and runs up to catch the fae before he hits the ground. Renjun and Jeno go to help Jaemin up. He couldn't heal himself enough, and could barely walk. "Woah got you bro" Jeno says, putting Jaemin's arm over his shoulder. Renjun puts his other arm over his shoulder and helps Jaemin walk over to where the rest of the group were with Jeno, keeping a eye on the hybrid as they walked. </p><p>When the trio came, the man started to laugh hysterically. "Man, you guys will do anything to keep each other alive huh?" he asks. "Yeah, we told you, buy one get 6 free. We won't leave each other behind" Donghyuck says. He crosses his arms and glares at the vampire man. "Now, any last words before we pull off your tacky highlighter band?" The vampire man gives the merman a creepy smirk, showing the sharp fangs present in his mouth. "Mr. Jo are waiting for you guys, don't be late, or else your little fire spirit friend is going go." A large lightning bolt blasts the ice mount apart, causing the group to jump to the side. Coming out of the mount was a large, spiky lighting spirit with lightning bolts crackling out from its form. It turns to Jaemin and casts a lightning bolt towards the hybrid. Renjun gasps and gets to create a shield around Jaemin, Jeno and himself, rebounding the lightning bolt at the spirit. The spirit moves out of the way and stares at the three one last time before flying off to wherever it came from. As soon as the spirit left, Jaemin scoffs. </p><p>"Such as a dramatic messenger boy" he says weakly before passing out onto Jeno's lap. </p><p>.</p><p>When Jaemin opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Renjun's face. Eyebrows knitted together. Eyes focusing on a bowl of something. Arms hastily mixing said bowl with a spoon.  Jaemin raises a unsteady hand to touch Renjun's arm. Renjun stops mixing when he feels something touch his arm and looks at the hybrid. "Jaemin!" he exclaims. He sets the bowl aside and puts a hand on Jaemin's cheek. The hybrid leans onto it and closes his eyes. "How are you feeling are you ok?" Renjun asks in a worried tone. Jaemin opens his eyes and looks up at Renjun. He smiles. </p><p>"Am I laying on your lap right now?" </p><p>"Na Jaemin!" Renjun scolds. Jaemin laughs weakly and nods. "I'm ok, I feel much better then before" he says. He does sound stronger, but it doesn't seem like Jaemin is fully ok just yet. Renjun nods and picks up the bowl to mix again. He gets stopped by the hybrid, who was staring at him with a pout on his face. "You're not gonna pamper me? I'm hurt, and weak." Renjun sighs and caresses Jaemin's face with his hand. "I have to make this potion for you to feel better, ok?" he whispers. Jaemin nods and closes his eyes. "Okie, thank you Injunnie" he whispers back. The human smiles softly and brushes some hair out of the hybrid's face. "Hang in there." </p><p>Finally getting the consistency he wanted, Renjun puts the bowl down on a dresser and helps Jaemin up from his lap. "Here, drink all of this, it's a potion that will make you feel better." Jaemin takes the bowl and looks down at the silver like mixture. "Don't worry, it's a potion for hybrids, Taeil hyung gave me this recipe" Renjun adds on. Jaemin nods and takes one shot of the whole liquid. When it goes down his throat, he makes a face and gives the bowl back to Renjun. "It's sour" he says, nose scrunched up, eyes squeezed together. The human laughs at Jaemin's reaction and sets the bowl down. "You'll get through it pup" he says. He lifts his hand up and adjusts Jaemin's messy hair. The room begins to become quiet again. </p><p>As he's taking out bits of dirt out of the hybrid's hair, Renjun notices Jaemin staring at him from the corner of his eye. He stops and looks back at him. They make eye contact, and hold it, while passing whispered words to each other. </p><p>"What?" Renjun asks.</p><p>"You're pretty" Jaemin replies back. </p><p>"You're prettier" </p><p>Jaemin shakes his head and leans in closer. "No, you're pretty like a little flower. Just like the first time I saw you, but even more pretty." Renjun scoffs and pokes Jaemin's cheek. "I think that's the most cheesiest thing you've ever said to me, and you say a lot of things" he says in a louder tone. Jaemin pouts and leans back. "It's true though! You were a pretty kid you know." Renjun gives a small smile and pulls on Jaemin's cheek. "You weren't so bad yourself, Mr. Plant Whisperer." Jaemin laughs and stretches his arms. "That potion is really working quick, I'm getting my energy real fast." He drops his arms and looks around his surroundings. "Are we in Taeil hyung's room?" he asks. Renjun nods. </p><p>"Is Jisung ok?" Jaemin asks the human, in a worried tone. Renjun gives a reassuring smile and pats Jaemin's hands. "Taeil hyung gave him a potion and put him in the coldest place in the house. You wanna see him? I think Chenle is in there making sure he has enough ice packs on him." Jaemin nods his head like a bobble head. He considers Jisung like his first child (Pangxie being the second). Figures, since the hybrid has known him since he was very young. Renjun picks up the bowl and helps Jaemin up from the bed. "Let's let the others know you're ok first, then we can go see how Jisung's doing. He should be awake from what Donghyuck told me." </p><p>He opens the door of Taeil's bedroom into the living room. Taeil's apartment is structured similarly to the boy's dorm rooms. The bedrooms lead right into the living room where the kitchen sat at the back next to the bathroom. There was a large window with green curtains behind the TV at the other side of the kitchen and a black couch sitting right in front of it with a little Korean snack table in the middle. Some vines decorated the walls behind the TV and the kitchen above its counter and stove. Honestly, if someone were to come in here after meeting Taeil for the first time, they might think he's a plant fae rather then a great water dragon deity. </p><p>"You're awake!" Jeno cheers. Donghyuck, who was currently chopping some vegetables in the kitchen, turns around and smiles. "Oh good! Taeil hyung is managing the flower shop right now. He told us to stay up here for a while, then he'll come up." As he talks, Renjun walks up to the sink next to him and puts the empty potion bowl into the sink. He turns on the faucet and lets the water run into the bowl, then turns it off. </p><p>The door of one of the bedroom opens. Chenle and Mark walk out of their with jackets on and melted ice packs. "Ok, I think Jisung is good now. That room is literally ice" Mark says, shoving his jacket off. He turns to put his jacket on the couch and smiles upon seeing Jaemin. "Hey! You feeling better?" he asks. Jaemin nods. "Yup, the potion Renjun gave me worked like a charm." Chenle gives a thumbs up. "That's good hyung! Are you gonna see Jisung now?" The hybrid nods. Chenle gives his jacket to him. "Here, you're gonna need this, it's cold as hell in there." </p><p>"How can it be cold as hell in there. Isn't hell a place of fire?" Renjun jokes as he walks up to the pair. He grabs the jacket Mark put on the couch and puts it on. "Come on" he says to Jaemin. He opens the door and immediately closes it. "It was not that cold before" he says. Mark shrugs. "I mean, at least that means Jisung's getting better? I don't really know how faes work." Donghyuck stops chopping and turns around. "Hyung, you're a medical student" he says. Renjun and Jaemin ignore their conversation and open the door again. They rush to go into the room and closes the door. "H-hey Jisung!" Renjun says, shivering. </p><p>The fae was sitting on the guest bed, back against the headboard and his long legs stretched out. He waves at Renjun and widens his eyes when he sees Jaemin. "You're ok!" he says. Jaemin chuckles and walks with Renjun to the bed. "Yes I am, and I hope you are too" he replies. Jisung nods, and reaches over to the dresser that sat on the other side of the bed. He shows a empty cup to the pair. "I drank the potion Taeil hyung gave me. It was sour, but it helped me get better a little faster." Renjun offers to take the cup to put in the sink. "Do you think you can come out, or do you still need to stay here?" he asks. Jisung turns his head to think for a moment, then turns back. "I don't know. Taeil hyung says to stay here for at least 10 minutes, then get up to try to walk for a while. How long has it been?" </p><p>"About 20, you've been out for a while" Renjun replies. Jisung gasps, and tries to get off of the bed. When he stands up his feet, he starts to waver severely and almost falls onto the wardrobe next to him, if it weren't for Renjun and Jaemin catching him. A knock on the door is heard, then it opens to reveal Jeno poking his head into the frozen room. "Taeil hyung is coming up with Jungwoo hyung. Are you ok Jisung?" he says. The fae lets go of his hyungs and tries to stand by himself, arms sticking out for balance (it was quite adorable in Renjun's opnion). </p><p>"...Yes"</p><p>"You sure? You still look pretty pale." </p><p>"Hyung I'm always pale." </p><p>Jeno tilts his head then nods. "Good point. If you can't stand the temperature out here, then feel free to go back in" he says. The wolf goes back out, but leaves the door open. "Can you walk?" Renjun asks. Jisung takes a moment to process, then takes a step. "I think if I walk like this I can get out of the room" he says. Chenle at this time, pokes his head into the room. "That's gonna take forever dumbass." He goes into the room, and puts Jisung's arm around his shoulder. "Don't call me dumbass, I'm a injured child" Jisung protests. Chenle tuts, and continues to hold Jisung's arm around his shoulder as he guides him out of the room. </p><p>When Renjun and Jaemin come out of the room, Taeil had opened the door and came into the apartment with Jungwoo. He looked less stressed then when Jisung and Jaemin were unconscious. He still looked pretty tense though. "Look who bought sandwiches!" Jungwoo announces, bringing up two white plastic bags in his hands. "What!? I was making soup!" Donghyuck says. He points to the pot on the stove with water already boiling with some carrots and onions inside. Jungwoo walks over to look inside then sets his sandwiches on the table. "We can eat that with the food, right hyung?"</p><p>Taeil didn't answer as he was too busy scanning Jaemin and Jisung, who were sitting on the couch with Chenle, for any injuries. "Hyung we're fine" Jaemin says. Jisung nods, and wipes a drop of sweat from his forehead. "Hold on, let me get you a ice pack" Chenle says. "Maybe two" Renjun says after, watching another drop of sweat fall from Jisung's forehead. Taeil sighs and turns to Jungwoo. "What did you say?" he asks. His tone was less enthusiastic and sarcastic then it usually is. Noticing this, Jungwoo shakes his head and smiles. "Nothing! I'll set the table." He gestures for one of the boys to help him. Jeno gets up from the floor to go help the gumiho. </p><p>In the meantime, Jaemin turns to Taeil. "You're not thinking of taking us off of the mission are you?" Everyone in the house stops what they are doing. Taeil doesn't answer the hyrbid and only stares at the floor, clearly spaced out. "Hyung?" Renjun calls out in a quiet tone. "I...don't know" the dragon finally answers. He looks up and turns to Jaemin. "I didn't think that you guys would get hurt to the point of being unconscious. After this incident, I..have been considering to have you guys to just stay in the apartment." Donghyuck puts down the spoon ladle into the pot and crosses his arms. "We've gotten hurt before, hyung it's fine." Jeno nods his head. "Yeah! We get hurt all of the time on spirit missions! We're used to it by now." </p><p>"This is different from your spirit hunting missions guys, we're dealing with deadly people. You've seen the guy who attacked you. Imagine that, but like times 10!" Taeil says. "But we've fought with my murdering uncle and aunt, and Jeno's murdering pack leader" Chenle says. "We've been working with the police on murder cases that Detective Jung's team leader calls me 'son."' Jisung adds on. Taeil shakes his head and walks over to the kitchen. Jaemin and Renjun get up to follow him. He puts a hand up and takes out a water pitcher, and a mug from the dish wash rack. The dragon pours the water into the mug and takes a sip. "Mark, you wanna say something before these two grill me?" he asks. Mark tilts his head and gives a small smile. "I don't think you'll listen to me since I'll just repeat what the others say. They have the most important arguments so listen to them." </p><p>Taeil turns around and sets his mug on the table. "Alright then, convince me. Why should I let you guys go on this mission when two of you literally passed out from using too much energy fighting one agent." </p><p>"Because we're not little kids." </p><p>The dragon raises an eyebrow. Jaemin sighs and clasps his hands together. "Hyung, you are acting exactly like Doyoung hyung. Doyoung hyung doesn't see us as adults, he sees us as children, that's why he doesn't let us do all of this stuff" he says. "Technically you are children to Taeil hyung..he's like 500 years old" Jungwoo says. Jaemin gives a pointed look towards the gumiho then looks back. "You need to understand, that we are capable of making our own decisions. If we need help, we'll get help, and we're grateful that you and the other hyungs are helping us out cause honestly, it's something we do need." </p><p>"But if you take us out, you're taking out the main reason why we got to the point in the first place. You saw the information we gathered, we are able to do this" Renjun adds on after. Taeil crosses his arms. "Is that all of the reasons? Are there more...personal ones?" he asks. </p><p> "I've been through this before, I know how this goes. You know that" Jaemin answers in a stoic tone. "Taeyong hyung is my hyung too you know." Taeil nods and looks at the human next to him. "Ok..Renjun?" Renjun takes a moment to gather his words. "Don't tell me you want to do this mission just because you're curious. If so, that's a invalid reason and I won't let you go" Taeil says. </p><p>Renjun  furrows his eyebrows. He didn't like how he made his curiosity sound like a bad thing, as if it's a good for nothing trait he has. "No, in the matter of fact it's not" Renjun says, tone stronger then before. "Lee Taeyong has helped me a lot as a spirit. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be standing here right now. He was able to lead Jaemin to me when I was unconscious. He saved me from death, and I want to return the favor." He takes a pause. "It's not fair for him to die again, he needs this second chance, and we're going to help him get it." </p><p>A moment of silence passes by through the room. The group watches Taeil carefully to see his reaction. Jungwoo sits quietly, and stares out the window behind the TV. </p><p>Then, Taeil smiles. </p><p>"Good answer, alright let's eat!" Renjun and Jaemin share glances. The dude a few seconds ago was stressed, and now he's acting as if the sandwiches are the most important thing in the world right now. "I wasn't actually thinking of taking you guys off of the mission, I know you guys are capable enough to be involved. Granted, I did get scared when Jaemin and Jisung fainted, but that's what you gotta experience! You guys have been playing with death for almost two years for god's sake." Renjun and Jaemin look back at their friends at the couch, who were staring at the dragon in shock. Donghyuck drops his ladle into the pot, then scoffs. "I swear to god, the most stressful part of this mission is going to be Taeil hyung." Jungwoo laughs, then beckons to come eat. "Come on, the sandwiches are getting cold, and I worked real hard this time to make them taste good!." </p><p>It was exactly 1 o'clock when they finished eating. Exactly 4 hours until it's time to go to District V. After the table was cleared, Taeil puts down a large map. It was of District V's street market. He takes out a marker and starts to circle specific parts of the map. "There are technically three ways we can get into these buildings. A.-" He taps on the area that marks the entrance into the building in the seafood market. "-we can get in through one of these doors, but considering how some of the vendors can recognize you guys, we should find other ways to get into the building." Taeil taps another part of the seafood market. "We can get into one of the windows, or-" He taps on the alleyway in the textile market. "-we can get through via alleyway." The dragon crosses his arms and leans against the back of his chair. "You guys are going to go with Johnny and Yuta into the market. Half of you are going to go in via window and set up the cameras in the building so Yoonoh, Dejun, Gunhang, and Jungwoo can monitor back at the police station. The other half, are going to wait downstairs, and once the camera team is done, they are going to storm through the alleyway. The goal is to try go out with this plan as secretive as possible, but if they catch us, they catch us, so be on guard." </p><p>"Is everyone clear on that?" Taeil asks. Everyone sitting at the table nods their heads. "Alrighty then, let's split up into two separate groups. Who in here can fly?" Mark and Jaemin raise their hands. "Jaemin and I can shape shift into our bat forms." Taeil hums and nods. "Hm, ok. I still need two more people to join you guys." Chenle raises his hand. "I can shrink and climb onto either Mark hyung's or Jaemin hyung's backs." Taeil snaps his fingers and smiles. "Good! We need one more person. Maybe someone who is a good climber." Donghyuck points a thumb at Renjun. "What about Renjun? He's small and dainty enough to fit into the window." Jeno and Chenle snickers while Renjun glares at the merman. "That's a good idea. We need two elementals on each team, so it's better for Renjun to come with." Renjun stops glaring at a smug Donghyuck and turns to the dragon. "I don't have the skills to climb onto the buildings though" he says. "You can, make a pretty good plant rope though" Jaemin says. </p><p>Hmm, Renjun can make a pretty good plant rope (it's literally just a vine, but he likes calling it plant rope). "How are you gonna be able to use it to lift yourself into the window though?" Jungwoo asks. Renjun thinks for a bit, staring at the map on the table. "Where is the window going to be?" he asks. "It's the second window on the second floor" Jaemin explains. Renjun nods, and explains his thinking. "What I can do, is use the rope to swing on a street lamp on to the roof." Donghyuck makes a hesitant expression on his face. "Huang, I hate to break it to you, but you aren't Spiderman" he says. </p><p>Ah, that's true. </p><p>Dreams of becoming Spiderman broken, Renjun sighs. "That's a good point, I don't think I have the abilities to do that and land on the roof safely." He can swing on things with a vine, but he can't land without breaking his back. Renjun would not like to break his spine thank you very much. Taeil tilts his head. "Do you know how to make sticky plants yet?" he asks. Renjun nods. He doesn't like to grow sticky plants that much, cause they're...well sticky, so he rarely finds a reason to do so. The only times he's ever had to grow sticky plants was during his sophomore year for an assignment and a exam for Professor Qian's class. "I do, but I don't really use sticky plants that much" he answers. "Do you know how to make one part of a plant specifically sticky" Taeil asks. </p><p>Making one part of a plant sticky..that's a interesting one. Renjun shakes his head. "What you can do, is go into the street market and stick onto the tarps of one of the booths and pull yourself onto it, then do the same for the window" Taeil explains. "Hyung, I think we established that Renjun isn't Spiderman" Jeno says. "Yeah, Mark hyung is" Jisung says. Mark gives a strange look at Jisung then turns back at the group. Taeil raises an eyebrow. "I mean it's fairly easy to do. You don't need to have radioactive spider powers to do it" he says.</p><p>Jaemin sighs. "Well yeah that's easy for you to say, you're a dragon deit-" The hybrid stops in the middle of his sentence when he feels something moist stick to his arm. He looks down and sees Renjun sticking a vine to his arm. The human looks up, then down, a little panicked. "Sorry, I don't know why I stuck it to your arm. I didn't want to stick it to the table" Renjun says. "You can make a part of a plant sticky!" Jungwoo exclaims. "Not really, I just grew out a plant that has sticky sap and ripped the end off" Renjun explains. Taeil shrugs his shoulders. "Yeah that could work too" he says. "Also, I think I can pull myself up. If it's on the second floor, which isn't far off the ground anyways, I'm sure I can do it." Taeil smiles and nods his head. "We can test that out, we have time." He checks the clock hanging on the wall next to the door.</p><p>2:30PM, 2 hours and a half until 5. </p><p>"Before we test it out, let's go over what the other groups are going to do." </p><p>.</p><p>4:45PM, the group drives in Taeil's car to District V. </p><p>5:00PM, they arrive at the parking lot. </p><p>"Alrighty boys! Are we ready to kick some asses?" Taeil asks. </p><p>No, not really. The whole group is a mess of beating hearts and sweaty palms. Knees are shaking, thoughts are racing. Renjun feels like all of his brain cells just evaporated to the Jade Emperor himself the minute the car parked in the parking lot. "Geez, what happened to you guys convincing me to let you stay on the mission? Do we need to go back?" </p><p>"NO!" the group shouts in unison. </p><p>Taeil smiles and gives a thumbs up. "Johnny and Yuta are waiting at the entrance of the District so you guys can meet them there. You got the cameras?" Jaemin nods and shows a bag of 5 cameras.</p><p>"Great! Have fun!" </p><p>The group shares glances. "Wait where are you gonna be hyung?" Mark asks. Taeil's eyes shift from the right and to the left. "Me? I'll help out at the station. I don't think it would be fair for the agents to go against a dragon like myself." Renjun hears Jaemin scoff next to him. He giggles. He wonders how long Jaemin has known Taeil for him to react like that. They seem pretty close, not close like Doyoung and Jaemin are, but close. </p><p>"If you need help, don't be afraid to call us. We're gonna keep our eyes on the screen, so make sure to set the cameras up in where we can see you guys" Taeil says. </p><p>The group nods. Taeil looks out of the windshield and turns back to the group. "Good luck guys, really, you're doing a awesome thing." </p><p>The dragon watches the boys get out the car. He gives one last wave, before turning the engine back on and drive to District 127 to the police station. After the car leaves, they turn to the entrance of the district in the distance, the traditional Chinese building arc greeting them from a far, with the lights of the cars and the street lamps dotting the area. </p><p>It's show time.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>For the asterisks: </p><p>Merong: In Korea, people would sometimes playfully tease each other, by sticking their tongues at their peers. This action is named "merong." </p><p>Geran: Have I ever explained what Geran's name is? If you guys don't know, or forgot, Geran is Jeno's cat. She is a black cat, who rarely plays with Jeno, and would rather sleep all day. She loves him though, and will cuddle with him in his sleep. Her name, "Geran", means "egg" in Korean. </p><p>Pangxie: I know some people in the beginning of this story caught onto the pun that is, Gougou's name (Gougou is Renjun's childhood dog in the fic), but no one has really mentioned Pangxie's yet. Her name in Chinese means "crab." Because she is a crab. Duh. To explain, Renjun's character in this fic likes to name animals their name in Chinese. There's no rhyme or reason to it, just a little perk about him ^^</p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0036"><h2>36. 21. Saving Lee Taeyong pt. 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The continuation of the Dreamie's District V mission</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HI! HI! HI! HI! </p><p>*insert that one line from LOONA's Hi High in the chorus* </p><p>Welcome back! We are almost done with Renjun's arc! Dang it's been a ride, but the story itself isn't over yet! </p><p>Fair warning, there is a scene somewhere in the middle of the story that may be disturbing to some, so if you are the type to..not picture a body slowly turn into ashes by a flame, then be careful! </p><p>Enjoy the chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>WARNING!!: THERE IS A SCENE THAT MAY BE DISTURBING TO OTHERS!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!</b>
</p><p>"Excuse me ma'am" </p><p>The lady turns around. She sees Johnny, Yuta, and Renjun standing in front of her carrot booth with a white Samoyed. "We'll like to buy 3 carrots please" Johnny says. The lady nods and takes three carrots from the box, then puts up a number three with her fingers. "Three, three won" she says in a thick Chinese accent. Johnny smiles. He pays then accepts the white bag filled with carrots. "I'm quite new here, do you mind asking you some questions about the street market?" Johnny asks. The lady raises and eyebrow, then beckons for Johnny to ask. The wolf leans in, then cups his hand near his mouth.</p><p>"Where are the DokZuZhi?" </p><p>The lady's eyes widen. She takes a carrot and tries to throw it at the wolf. The carrot though, gets caught by the hand of Jeno, now in human form.</p><p>"Hi lady! Remember me?" he asks with a eye smile. </p><p>Renjun starts to run towards the seafood market. The lady runs around her booth to follow the human but gets stopped by Yuta. She creates a fire ball and aims it at the wolf, who dodges. "Go help Renjun!" Johnny yells. Jeno nods and runs towards the seafood market in his wolf form. The lady, starts to yell something in Chinese and throws another fire ball at the wolves. The other vendors around her, don't do anything and only watch the carrot vendor attack very poorly. They only react when their booths catch on fire, which cause them to run out of the street market. Yuta tsks, and starts to yell at the vendors. "Stop worrying about the DokZuZhi agents ruining your businesses and leave!" </p><p>"But we made a contract!" a pepper vendor, that was next to the carrot vendor, yells out. "So? Contracts were made to be broken anyway! Just leave before you get hurt!" Johnny leaves. The pepper vendor hesitates, looking at the other vendors leaving the market. He gets out from the booth and sticks a talisman on the woman's back causing her to fall and become immobile. Johnny and Yuta looked at the man wide eyed. "What can I do to help?" the pepper vendor asks. The wolves look at each other, and smile at the vendor. "Take this woman to the police station in District 127 with the other vendors. There's a Chinese speaker there named Wong Yukhei, so he can help you if needed. Make sure to stick together so you don't run into trouble with any agents." The pepper man nods and bows towards the wolves. "Thank you! You're saving our businesses!" he says, before calling in Chinese to some vendors to come back, and help him carry the carrot vendor.</p><p> </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun and Jeno make it to the seafood market, but are stopped by some of the vendors. "You aren't going anywhere!" one of them says. Renjun raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms. "Really now?" he asks. </p><p>Running from behind the pair come Jisung and Donghyuck. They separated and let them come through the middle to knock the vendors to the ground and freeze them. Jeno runs to the left in his wolf form, Renjun runs to the right. They dodge any attacks that come from the other vendors. From the air, Jaemin and Mark fly over to the open window of the second building, Chenle with the bag of cameras on him riding on Mark's back. Renjun takes out his vine and rips off the end. He squeezes the open end to get the sap running then swings it onto the tarp of a booth. When it sticks, he takes a deep breath and pulls himself up onto the tarp, successfully. He takes the vine off again swings it onto the window sill of the opened window. A arm comes out and pulls the rope up, Renjun holding onto it. </p><p>"He's going up into the window!" one of the vendors call out. He's about to throw a oyster at the human, but gets slapped by another vendor with a mackerel. "Do you realize what they're doing? They're trying to get the DokZuZhi out of the street market!" the vendor yells. Jeno tackles a shirmp vendor then turns into his human form. "That's right! So go to the police station in District 127! Stay together so you won't get caught!" The mackerel vendor and the oyster vendor look at each other. They nod and call the other vendors to follow them. "Thank you boys!" The mackerel vendor calls out. Jeno, Jisung, and Donghyuck waves at them, then waits for Johnny and Yuta to come back. </p><p>.</p><p>Inside the building, Jaemin helps Renjun up through the window. "Yay you made it!" Chenle exclaims. Mark shushes him. Renjun gathers his rope, then attaches it to his waist. He looks around the room. It was quite dark and dusty. The only source of light there was a single light bulb on the ceiling and the light coming through the window. The group start walking towards right. They walk through a doorway that leads to another empty and dusty room. "Where are we going to set the cameras?" Mark asks. Jaemin looks around. "Where a room seems to be the least dusty. Less dust means more people have been in there." </p><p>They go into the next room. There was a staircase leading from the first floor and to the third floor. Jaemin gestures for a camera. When he gets one, he places it on the ground and presses record. Then, he presses the invisibility button, making the camera disappear visually.</p><p>When Jaemin places the camera on to the ground, the group hears fast footsteps running down from the third floor. Quickly, they hide in the room they came out from and watch from the doorway. A bunch of agents were making their way down to the first floor, unaware that there were four college students watching them from afar. "Shit, what if they're here for the others downstairs?" Renjun whispers. "Then let the fight begin" Jaemin whispers back.</p><p>Let the fight begin indeed. </p><p>Down on ground level, the DokZuZhi agents bursts through a door from behind a booth and immediately attack the others with a ice blast. "Woah! No greetings?" Donghyuck asks. Johnny snorts, then turns into his wolf form to tackle one of the agents. Jisung counterattacks a fire ball with his own ice ball, and freezes an agent to the wall. Jeno fights by hand combat, avoiding punches and attacking with kicks. He receives a punch in the gut, but punches back by hitting an agent in the face. Donghyuck fights two agents, knocking them out with a water strike. He blocks a lightning attack from one with a water stream. Yuta headbutts that agent then tackles another coming from behind him. </p><p>"Jisung! Freeze the door!" Jeno yells. Jisung kicks a agent into a booth, then quickly runs up to the opened door of the building. He freezes the door as more agents were coming down. "It's not strong! Let's go now!" Jisung yells. His comrades nods, and they all run to the textile market together.</p><p>.</p><p>Back in the building, Renjun, Jaemin, Mark, and Chenle, sneak off to other rooms of the building after the swarm of agents passed by. The other rooms after the staircase, were much more filled. There were maps on the walls, and couches (still a bit dusty). They go into more rooms. The group stops at a particular one and peek from the doorway. There were a couple of agents sitting at computers in what seems like a low quality lab. Computers sat at one wall, while containers similar to the ones back at the lab at the hospital held spirits at the other. "Bingo, an important room" Jaemin whispers. The problem was, where should they put the camera? One option is to fight the agents, but there were spirits in containers, ready to fight them back. </p><p>The other problem was, that they were supposed to meet at the alleyway. Renjun notices more labs like the one in front of them through other doorways, meaning there were more agents. "What should we do?" he asks, after explaining his observations. The group stops peeking and walk towards the corner of the room they're in and crouch to hide. "Should we go to the third floor?" Chenle asks. Jaemin shakes his head. "If most of the agents came from the third floor to fight off the others at the ground floor, then we can assume it's packed with agents" he explains. "How many cameras are we supposed to use?" Mark asks. "all 5 of them" Renjun responds. He groans quietly. "Ugh, if I had invisibility potions we could've done this easily!" Then, a lightbulb sets off in Renjun's, Mark's, and Jaemin's heads. They all turn to Chenle, who was sitting innocently with them on the ground. "What?" he asks. </p><p>.</p><p>Back at District 127, the police station are filled with the vendors from the street market. Yoonoh's teammate and Yukhei take care on getting information from the vendors, while 2 other of Yoonoh's team interrogates the carrot lady with his team leader. The detective himself on the other hand, sits at his computer with Jungwoo, Dejun, and Gunhang watching the screen closely. "They only set one camera so far, are they ok?" Dejun asks. Yoonoh looks up at the clock on the wall. An hour as passed since the group arrived at the market. "They're fine, the buildings are crawling with agents remember? It won't be easy for them to set cameras in that kind of environment" Jungwoo reasons. </p><p>A loud sound erupts from the entrance of the station, causing Yoonoh and the others to look up from the computer. Doyoung had stormed in with Kun and Taeil following him. The ghost walks up to the Detective sitting at the computer and slams his hands onto the table next to him. </p><p>"Where are they?" he asks sternly. </p><p>"Hyung" Yoonoh says, standing up. "Where ARE THEY!?" Doyoung shouts. The rest of the station stops talking and look at the angry ghost. Yoonoh laughs nervously and gestures at them to continue to what they were doing. "Hyung, just calm down. They're fine." he says. "Yeah, I said that, and it obviously didn't work" Taeil says, arms crossed. "Why did you LET them do this, knowing fully well it's dangerous!? We were already handling this well!" Doyoung shouts. "We actually weren't" Jungwoo says. The ghost turns to the gumiho and glares at him. Jungwoo shrinks, then whistles while turning to face the wall in his chair. "They actually received a lot of information Dr. Kim! They even received scientific research about the spirits relating to the DokZuZhi!" Dejun says. </p><p>Kun furrows his eyebrows and points at Dejun. "Why are you here?" he asks. Dejun closes his mouth, then starts to fake cough. Gunhang gives a awkward smile, and pats Dejun's back. "Doyoung" Taeil says. Doyoung turns around and faces Taeil. "I didn't tell you about this so you can go haywire. You're right, it is dangerous, but they can do it. They were so far ahead in getting information, they managed to find where Taeyong was kept way before we figured it out." Doyoung clenches his fists. "They're still kids! Plus, they're holding Taeyong hyung as a ransom for them! For Jaemin! I can't let Jaemin go into there like that!" </p><p>"Jaemin went with his friends, Yuta hyung, and Johnny hyung. He isn't alone" Yoonoh explains. "And they're not kids" Taeil says. "You know what Jaemin said to me when he was convincing me to let them on the mission?" Doyoung crosses his arms and tilts his head. "What" he says. </p><p>"'I've dealt with this before.''"</p><p>Doyoung raises his eyebrows. He drops his arms to his side, and scoffs. He was speechless. Taeil wasn't wrong. Jaemin had dealt with a lot of things like this as a child. "They are not kids anymore, they're adults. As fellow adults we have to support them from the side and help them when they need it." Doyoung looks up at Kun. The wizard only shrugs with a monotone expression. He was convinced by Taeil on the way to the station. "We're watching their backs by the cameras they're planting in the buildings" Yoonoh says, directing them to his computer. As soon as he says that, the second camera was placed on the floor towards a lab of some sorts. The people around the computer turn their attention towards the screen. The third one was placed. Then the fourth, then finally, the fifth one near a stair case. "They did it!" Jungwoo cheers. <br/>
"Not just yet, it's time for phase 2" Taeil says. </p><p>Doyoung doesn't say anything. He just watches the screen, praying that they're going to be OK. </p><p>.</p><p>Chenle shrinks to his leprechaun size. The rest of the group then watches him plant the cameras on against the wall, all the way to the last room which should lead to the alleyway. "OK, once Chenle turns back to normal size, the cameras should be in normal size too, so it should capture more" Jaemin explains. They wait for a signal. A tiny rock flies through the doorways from the last room. Mark catches it and nods. Chenle was done, and was ready to go. "Let's go" he says. The group gets up and quickly scurries to the room with the staircase. When they arrive, Mark puts his thumb on his ring to check for anyone downstairs. "It's clear" he whispers. </p><p>The trio, as silently as they could, walk down the stairs to the first floor. Then suddenly, they start to hear footsteps coming down from the third floor. They freeze. Their heads turn to a agent, who stopped on the steps, staring at the boys, equally startled as they were. Renjun puts a finger to his mouth, then takes out a glue potion ball from his belt and throws it at the agent. Before the agent could say anything, Jaemin comes up from behind him and hits a part of his neck, knocking the agent unconscious. "Alright, now it's a time to run" Mark says. The boys run down the stairs as fast as they can, and open the door of the first floor. They notice the ice sheet Jisung had put up earlier, now broken down by the agents that came to attack the other group. They step over the broken ice, not minding the other unconscious agents laying on the floor. </p><p>"Calling to anyone in the alleyway team" Jaemin says, tapping his earpiece. "Yo!" Donghyuck says through his own. "Chenle should've been out, is he there?" he asks. A moment of silence, then Jisung's voice comes through. "Yeah, but where kinda having trouble with some spirits here so come to the-" Jisung attacks a spirit and freezes it. "-to the textile market and help us please thanks." Jaemin takes his finger off of his earpiece and nods towards Mark and Renjun. </p><p>There were too many spirits in the market. Most of the vendors were still there because they were not able to escape. It was a swirl of purple, yellow, white, and orange within this particular part of the street market. </p><p>Renjun takes two potion balls from his belt and throws them into the air. He takes his vine rope and hits them both, causing them to explode into green and white smoke. The smoke falls onto the fight on the ground, making all of the spirits sleepy. All of the ghosts, fall to the ground, unconscious like their agent comrades in the seafood market. "Wow, someone remind me to ask Taeil hyung for this potion recipe" Renjun says. Donghyuck, looking at the all of the sleeping spirits on the ground, puts a thumbs up. "Noted" he says. </p><p>Jaemin leads Mark and Renjun through the cascade of spirits on the ground to meet their friends, and Johnny and Yuta in front of the alleyway. "Everyone! Get to the police station! Move together as a group!" Jaemin yells. The textile vendors, quickly gather their things and move to get to District 127. A young woman comes up to the boys and thanks them. "Take these talismans, you can use them to freeze a person by sticking it onto their back" she says. Renjun smiles and accepts the paper tailsman. "Thank you jiejie" he says as he bows. The woman bows back and waves a good bye to Chenle and Mark before following her fellow vendors. </p><p>"Alright guys! Ready to go?" Johnny says. The group nod, determination set in their eyes. </p><p>"Let's go!" </p><p>.</p><p>The rooms of the buildings left of the alleyway in the textile market were different from the ones in the seafood market building. These rooms, were well furnished with rugs, a coffee table, fake plants, and couches. There was actual light that came from ceiling lights. Paintings of white tigers and poison spirits sat on the wall, staring at the group as they walked in. "Geez, at this point they should just call themselves the Neo City mafia" Jeno comments, eyeing one painting of a white tiger. When they entered into the room, the group was met with a fire ball. Several agents were waiting for them.</p><p>All of them were different species.</p><p>All of them, had bands around their necks. </p><p>Another set of fire balls come towards the group. Donghyuck goes in front of the group and uses a stream of water to take the fire balls out. The werewolves turn into their wolf forms and run into the agents. Mark and Jaemin work together to use hand combat, using their vampire agility to dodge and attack. Jisung freezes some of the agents to the ground, while Chenle manipulates the floor they're standing on and throws them against the wall. Renjun avoids the swings of a bat of a dokkaebi with wind elemental and trips him by using his vine. When the agent falls, Renjun rips the band off of his neck, causing him to dissolve into light purple orbs. He looks up and sees the rest of the team do the same, a series of orange, yellow, and white orbs dissolving in the the air. </p><p>"Well done" a voice is heard.</p><p>The room perks up. They look around their surroundings to see who was talking. No one was in the room. Jaemin taps on Renjun and points to the speaker on the wall. The human looks at the speaker, then notices a camera facing towards the team. "That's right, I can see you all" the voice speaks. It was smooth as velvet, but sinister. Typical villain voice to be honest. "I am disappointed to see back up with you-"</p><p>"Na Jaemin." </p><p>"Alright, when we're finished with this you better tell us why these people keep referring to you all mysterious like" Donghyuck says to Jaemin. The hybrid furrows his eyebrows and looks around his surroundings. "Come out" he says. The voice's laugh booms through the intercom in all of the buildings of the street market. "Oh no, that'll be too easy. Instead of that, come and find me. If you really think you can fight me that is" the voice says. </p><p>At this time, Detective Jung's voice speaks through the team's earpieces. "The agents look like they're planning to release the spirits from their compartments in the labs. Be careful!" Renjun and Jaemin look at each other. They share glances with the rest of the team and nod, smiles growing on their faces. Yuta and Johnny share glances of their own, a little scared of what the the boys are planning. </p><p>"God you're a terrible host!" Donghyuck yells out. "You didn't come to greet us!" Johnny whispers to the merman. "What are you doing? We need to leave quick!" The merman gives him a smug grin then looks up at the camera. "Why don't you come greet us instead of some sort of game master!" </p><p>"Yeah! This ain't Saw! If you really that excited to see us, you should've seen us yourself!" Renjun adds on. "Why I did greet you boys. I greeted you with my agents" the voice says, a little amused. That can't be it. This dude shouldn't be entertained right now. "Mmm, but we should've seen you in person" Chenle yells. "It's a shame though, I wanted to ask you about your terrible taste in decorating" Jisung adds on. Donghyuck snorts and high fives the fae. "Seriously though, it looks terrible in here. Who's your interior designer?" Jeno asks. </p><p>During this time at the police station, the men listen to the audio coming through Jaemin's mic in shock. "What the heck are they doing? The spirits are going to be released any second!" Dejun exclaims. Doyoung quietly listens to the audio, then scoffs. "They're doing what they do best; spitting out bullshit." Jungwoo tsks. "Well yeah obviously, but why though?" Taeil smiles. "So they can prove they're much stronger then what that voice thinks." </p><p>Going back to the building, the voice doesn't respond to the Dreamie's comments. The bullshit was working. "They're coming now, get ready" Detective Jung says through the earpieces. Mark, puts a thumb on his ring to see how many people were coming. He can't see the spirits, but he can see there were 10 people coming from the other building. He signals to Jaemin by opening and closing his hand two times*. Renjun spots the signal and turns to the camera. "You know, I could be doing my schoolwork right now, but since you were so adamant to having us here, I was generous enough to come here" he says. "That's true! I can't do my essay that's probably late now, because I'm standing in your dusty ass, cheap mafia looking ass room!" Donghyuck shouts back.</p><p>"Which you're getting a 0 on" Kun says through the earpiece. "And I got a 0 because of you! Fuck you!" Donghyuck shouts, not realizing that Kun just spoke into the mic. </p><p>"ENOUGH!!" the voice roars. "I don't know what you are doing, but it's not going to work!" Jaemin raises an eyebrow. "You don't know what we're doing?" he asks. "Well then, allow us to show you." </p><p>On time, the door of the room bursts down. Donghyuck and Chenle immeaditly throw water and rocks at the agents and spirits to knock some of them down. Renjun then throws a glue potion at the doorway, creating a web of sticky essence, blocking it from anyone coming in. Jeno runs to close it, with Jisung freezing the door shut. </p><p>"Don't be so cocky Jo Hyungil! We're much more slick then you think!" Jaemin says. "Now, keep your eyes open if you want to see us" he says. He, Mark, and the wolves use their super speed to go through the other rooms of the building. Renjun knocks out the camera in the first room with his vine. Donghyuck, Jisung, and Chenle use their elementals to do the same with the other cameras in the other rooms and catch up with the others at the last room of the building. </p><p>The last room was nothing but stairs leading down to a underground tunnel to the main building behind the stage, the one where Renjun had seen the man and wind spirit come out of the other day. "Maybe give us a hint before doing whatever the heck you guys were doing?" Johnny says, as the group walks down the stairs. "Sorry, we got caught up in the moment" Mark says, rubbing the back of his neck. "Nah it's ok, it was funny to watch" Yuta replies. </p><p>.</p><p>Meanwhile at the police station, the men sighed in relief hearing that the Dreamies, Johnny, and Yuta were ok. "Keep a eye on them though, we gotta watch their backs for them" Taeil instructs. "How are we going to do that? The cameras were only placed in the other building" Gunhang says. The dragon gives a smug smile and nods to Yoonoh. The latter had already taken out a remote control. One of the cameras Renjun and them had put down suddenly spouts wings and a propeller and starts flying out a opened window. The grim reaper detective controls the camera to fly into a open window of the building the group was previously in. He lands it next to the door of the stairs the group had walked into and puts down the wings and propellers with a push of a button. "And that ladies and gentlemen, is the technology of Neo City's Police department" Yoonoh says proudly. "Woah, do the boys know that the cameras could do that?" Dejun asks. Taeil tsks. "You think they're not gonna keep begging to play with it? It's better to make them think it's a regular camera then them breaking it automatically." </p><p>.</p><p>The underground tunnel was a long grey and dark hallway. There weren't any doors, and the only source of light are the light bulbs hanging from the ceiling (they really like light bulbs huh). "I feel like we're in a sewer" Yuta says. "Well it feels less like a sewer and more of a really grim office hallway" Jeno says, scrunching his nose. The trek seemed to go on forever. Renjun is really considering that all of the people they have to fight with, really like long, dark, and confusing mazes. Well except for Chenle's aunt and uncle, but they still had a dark ass basement. </p><p>They finally get to a part of the path that was different from the rest. A forked path, one leading to the right and one leading to the left. "Great, now what" Donghyuck says, bending down to rest his hands on his knees in a sumo stance. Jeno takes out his whistle and blows on it. "That side has a bunch of rooms, and the other is more hallway" he says, pointing to both directions. "You can see rooms too?" Renjun asks. Jeno shrugs. "The sound that comes out bounces off of the walls, so I can use echolocation to see somewhat what the room looks like." </p><p>"I'm not the dolphin anymore!" Chenle cheers. "Nah you still are, anyways which way should we go then?" Mark asks. The team looks at each other. "As much as we shouldn't separate, I think we need to so we can cover more ground" Johnny says. "Let's have two elementals, for each team. For the wolves, Yuta and I can split. Jeno, you can choose which way you want to go first." The younger wolf looks at both pathways, then points to the one on the room on the right. "I can go with you that way, anyone else?" Yuta says. Renjun, and Donghyuck volunteer to go to the right. Jaemin, Chenle, Jisung, Mark and Johnny are going to the left. Johnny presses his earpiece. "Yoonoh you there?" he asks. "Yeah! What do you need?" the other line responds. "Can you make sure two cameras go into the the door in the last room of the building? Make sure once goes to the right path and the other goes to the left." </p><p>"The cameras can move?" Chenle whispers to Renjun. Renjun shrugs and listen on to Johnny's and Detective Jung's conversation. "Sure thing!" the detective responds. Johnny takes his finger off of his ear piece. "The cameras can watch our backs. Make sure to contact each other just in case something goes wrong." The team then splits into their own separate groups, one going to the right and one going to the left. Not knowing, what's in either. </p><p>.</p><p>"Finally! Doors!" Donghyuck exclaims. </p><p>Jeno was right. This hallway was filled with doors, unlike the previous hallway that was just blank with grey paint. The aforementioned wolf blows his whistle to check for any people in the hallway. He closes his eyes to listen to the sound bouncing off of the walls, then opens them. </p><p>"Duck!" he yells. The group ducks and manages to avoid a ice spike from a ice spirit. Oh how Renjun was glad to fight a ice spirit again instead of a agent. </p><p>(He wasn't) </p><p>The ice spirit starts to grow larger, blue lightning bolts coming out from its form. "Great, a hybrid spirit" Donghyuck groans. The spirit strikes a blue lighting bolt at the merman, causing him to jump back. The spirit then spurts out ice spikes at the rest of the team, each one charged with lightning. Jeno and Yuta turn into wolves and dodge the spikes. Renjun hits the lighting icicles with his vine and attacks the spirit back by hitting it on top of its head. The spirit gets surprised, but shakes it off immeaditly and shoots a lightning bolt at Renjun. The lightning bolt disperses when Donghyuck blocks it with a stream of water. </p><p>"What do we do? There's no room to fight this thing!" Donghyuck yells. The hallway they were fighting in was narrow, and short. There were only a couple of doors, and the back of the wall was only a few feet away from them. Yuta barks at Donghyuck to give him a lift. The merman complies and carries Yuta into a stream of water. He launches the older wolf into the ice spirit, managing to make it fall onto the ground. "You got it!" Renjun cheers. </p><p>It didn't end there though. The spirit starts to vibrate, then pushes Yuta off of its form with so much force that it was able to knock him unconscious when he hits the back wall. "Hyung!!" Jeno yells, now in human form. When he goes to run to check of Yuta was ok, Donghyuck and Renjun shield the wolves, and try to weaken the ice spirit as much as they can. "You don't happen to have more of those sleepy time potions?" Donghyuck says. He catches a ice spike in a water orb and redirects it back at the spirit. The ice spirit avoids it and launches another one. "Nope, used it all back at the market" Renjun says. The spirit starts to enlarge a ice ball. The ice ball, then gets launched at Renjun, pushing him back against Jeno. </p><p>Donghyuck attacks it alone, using his stream of water to strike at it. He strikes the spirit multiple times, making it back away, but not enough to hurt its core. The spirit starts to crackle its lightning and uses a lightning bolt to whip Donghyuck into one of the doors, bursting it open. Before the merman could get out of the room though, the door slams back close, locking him in there. Renjun and Jeno get up to get their friend out but gets hit by the lightning whip as well. Renjun gets knocked against a wall again, but Jeno falls into another room, door also closing on him. Renjun gets up, holding up his shield to block out the lighting whip. The spirit keeps hitting the purple ball with the lightning bolt. Renjun tries to hold up the shield as long as he can, energy running out at a fast rate. Eventually, the spirit gives up the lighting bolt and flies down to the ground. It slithers to Renjun like a snake then pops the shield by taking form of a ice spike. Renjun uses his vine to tie the ice spike, but gets pushed back when it explodes. Tiny sharp icicles come raining down from the explosion causing Renjun to hide under one of the opened doorways, but not into the room. The spirit notices him not fully in the room and uses its lightning bolt to whip him. It makes the human fall back into the room, the door finally closing on him. </p><p>"Great job #4126, now come back to the main room at once. We're going to have a visitor real soon" the voice speaks through the intercom. The spirit checks on the rooms and the unconscious wolf one more time before leaving the hallway of doors. </p><p>.</p><p>"GET ME OUT OF HERE YOU FROZEN ELECTRIC CORD!!" Donghyuck yells. He keeps banging on the doors, not caring about his fists starting to hurt. He stops using his fist, and tries to knock the door down with his shoulder again. The door doesn't budge. </p><p>"Lee Donghyuck" </p><p>Donghyuck stops banging against the door and looks up to where the voice came from. The room he was in, was dark. He has no idea what's in the room nor where he is. "What? You finally want some decor tips? How about not putting a bunch of doors in a secluded hallway thanks" he says, crossing his arms. The voice lets our a creepy, deep laugh, the sound bouncing off of the walls. "Using the same tactic I see? Why don't you just drop it." </p><p>"What tactic? This is how I usually talk, you good for nothing poison sac" the merman replies. He takes satisfaction from making the voice speechless. His smug smirk drops though, when he hears the voice say something he hates the most. </p><p>"Why, it is a tactic!" the voice says. "You use it to mask the true personality you have; a weak, insecure merman." Donghyuck rolls his eyes, not letting the words affect him. "What do you know about me huh? We've never met before. Like I said, you're a terrible host" he says. "Oh I know a lot about you Lee Donghyuck. A dreamy merman who left his hometown of Dream City to what? Become a elemental specialist? Hah! Merpeople can't use elemental powers! They're just useless creatures who frolic in the ocean all day." The voice chuckles when he doesn't hear a snarky comment bounce back up from the merman. "Oh why waste your time Lee Donghyuck? You know you're not as good as any of the other water faes and fairies. They're born with talent, you're born with nothing." </p><p>"That's not true! I have you know that I am one of the top students in my elemental course. I managed to out beat other faes in my graduating class!" Donghyuck shouts. He can feel his energy going down from this talk, but he isn't going to back down from a person he can't see nor know. "Oh really now? Well then!" </p><p>Suddenly the lights come on in the room. Donghyuck's eyes widen upon seeing a army of creatures made of water.Their eyes were white, and their arms and legs were like shaped like whisps of air, but looked more heaver and condensed. One of the creatures give the merman a creepy smile and launches one of its arms at him. Donghyuck moves out of the way and uses a stream water against the creatures. There was one thing though.</p><p>Water cancels out water. </p><p>The stream just goes through the creatures, leaving them unharmed. "Let's put your skills to the test merman!" the voice says. It cackles a evil laugh (like any evil villain will do) as Donghyuck starts to be ganged up by these creatures while he poorly defends him self from them, shooting water orbs and streams at them. </p><p>But if he knows anything, it's that he's not going to win against them. </p><p>.</p><p>Jeno turns back into his human form after he headbutts the door for like the 4th time (he wishes that Renjun was there for count for him, the human was very good at remembering specific counts). He does a few neck stretches before turning into a wolf again. He starts to take a running start again, when suddenly, the voice comes back again. </p><p>"You're going to hurt your head Lee Jeno." </p><p>The wolf freezes, but doesn't answer. He takes a deep breath and head butts the door again. "Ouch! You should take a break Lee Jeno! That door isn't going to set you free.." </p><p>"...just like how your pack leader didn't set you free."</p><p>Jeno looks up and looks for the voice. It laughs once he sees he has gotten Jeno's attention. "Now you look at me" he says. The young wolf turns back into his human form. He crosses his arms and leans against the door. "Alright, you got me. What do you want" he growls. "Don't get mad at me Lee Jeno! I'm just worried about your head!" the voice says. "Bullshit" Jeno says. "Who are you and how do you know about my pack." </p><p>"Geez, so aggressive! You want to know what I know? Your pack, it was trapped under Park Myungchul. They were restricted, put under fear, mere puppets living in a power induced world, you hated that didn't you? You despised it with all of your heart!" The wolf nods and tries to jiggle the doorknob open. "Yeah, but it's not like that anymore. Park Myungchul is in jail." </p><p>"But what if he's not?" </p><p>"He is" </p><p>"But what if he gets out? What if he terrorizes your pack again?" </p><p>"He won't. The Neo City Prison is one of the strongest prisons in the supernatural world. I trust that it can keep him in there" Jeno says, trying to focus all of his attention on the doorknob. The voices tuts. "You don't really think that." </p><p>"Yes, I do, and you have no say on what I really think." </p><p>"Yes, yes of course. Your thoughts are yours after all, but guess what I can read them, I know them Lee Jeno, I know them." Jeno sighs and stops jiggling the doorknob. He tries to push the door down by using his super strength. </p><p>"You don't want to know what I know?" </p><p>The wolf doesn't answer. He only focuses on knocking the door down. </p><p>"Fine, I'll tell you anyways." </p><p>Jeno tries to punch it. It doesn't work. He tries to push it by slamming his shoulder onto the door. It doesn't even move. </p><p>"You don't trust the prison system to keep your pack leader in there." </p><p>The sounds of the door being slammed against stop. The voice gives a low chuckle, and keeps talking. "You know your pack leader. He's going to get out and hurt all of your pack. He's going to hurt you, your friends, hell his own children!" Jeno doesn't say anything, and only stands with his shoulder against the door. "You don't trust anyone in fact! You don't trust Taeseok to lead the pack! You don't trust the whole Park family! Why? Because they're the pack leader's children! Even little Park Kyungmi is going to abuse her power someday! Genes gotta come from somewhere!" Again, Jeno doesn't move. </p><p>"You don't even trust Jaemin, your childhood friend." </p><p>This one got him. This one got Jeno to let go of the door knob and look around the room. "That's not true!" he shouts. The voice cackles. "Is it not? Think about it Jeno! Why does Jaemin act so strange? Why does he keep disappearing to places? What are the secrets he's hiding? Is he dangerous? Why hasn't he told you, his oldest friend since elementary school, why he's acting like this? Is he even, a vampire!?!" </p><p>"Shut up and show up! You're the worst host ever!" Jeno shouts. The voice tuts again and speaks in a low tone. "Oh, don't worry I'll give you the best experience a host as ever given to his guests. Lee Jeno, meet your most trusted confidants! The Parks!" </p><p>Without another word, Jeno gets tackled to the ground by a black wolf. He gasps and throws the wolf off of him. The lights turn on to a family of wolves. Three he recognizes as Park Myungchul, Taeseok, and Eunbyul. He sees a smaller wolf who he assumes is Kyungmi, and a large dark black wolf. This one has the most frighting appearance. Its teeth bared, its eyes pitch black. It was bigger then most of the other wolves in this family, and had the sharpest claws out of all of them. </p><p>It was Sungjoon. </p><p>"Guys?" Jeno says, his tone now higher in fear. Sungjoon growls and launches upon him, the other wolves following him. They pin Jeno to the ground. He turns into a wolf himself and tries to get them off of him, but he couldn't. They were all too strong. The Parks were too strong. </p><p>They were always, too strong.</p><p>.</p><p>"Hello!? Anyone out there??" </p><p>"Hyuck? Jeno? Hyung?" </p><p>Renjun tries to jiggle the doorknob. Realizing it was locked, he takes out a hairpin from his potion belt and tries to unlock it. "Drats, I can't even lockpick it!" he says out loud. </p><p>"You know how to lock pick?" </p><p>Renjun drops the hair pin out of shock. He turns around, looking for whoever said that. "Figures, you humans have nothing special to offer." Renjun stands up from the ground. "Who are you?" he asks. "Do you think I will tell you? Do you think I'll feed to your curiosity that easily?" the voice asks. "You're an interesting fellow, Huang Renjun. Not only are you the only living human in Neo City, you managed to get powers! Now how did you get those as a useless human being?" </p><p>"The useless human being comments don't work on me you know, try something else" Renjun bites back. He looks around the room. It was too dark to see in. He decides to go to the wall and feel anything that may be in the room. "I see you don't feel helpless? You don't feel weak with your supernatural friends? That you can't help them at all?" Renjun furrows his eyebrows. Of course that feeling was still there. Of course he feels bad for not being as strong as his friends. Is he going to show it? No, of course not. He bumps into something. His hands moves towards that something, and feels what it is. A table? </p><p>The voice keeps talking while Renjun is searching for more items. "Huang Renjun, you don't feel bad? You don't feel guilty?" it asks. Renjun doesn't answer. </p><p>"Then how about when it comes to fire?" </p><p>The human stops searching the table. He sighs and gets up. "How do you know all about this? Did you send one of your super secret spirit spies to come stalk us? Are we that special to you?" he asks. "Yes! Of course! You're Jaemin's friends! I must get to know his friends!" Renjun raises an eyebrow. "And why the heck would you want to know that you creep?" The voice does't answer the question and switches to something else. "Hm, but you're not just Jaemin's friend I see. You're his boyfriend." </p><p>Renjun cringes. He didn't like how the voice stressed on the word "boyfriend."  "Jaemin grew up so fast! Next thing you know it! You'll get married! How did you two meet?" The human doesn't say anything. "Fine! Don't tell me! I already know!" Renjun widens his eyes. There's no way he'll know right? This is something only Renjun and Jaemin knows. Yeah he doesn't know, he's just going to tell about the time they met in the dorms! There's no way he'll mention the forest.</p><p>"I bet you two had a fun time in the forest." </p><p>Dang it. </p><p>"Did I get I right? You two first met as little boys in the forest didn't you? Hah! I was correct! Let me take another guess." The voice starts to hum, then snaps his fingers. "Ah! I know! You ran into some complications. What was it again?" Renjun leans against the table and tries to feel for something on it. There was some kind of ceramic material. A pot? "Oh yes! I remember now!" the voice says. </p><p>"You had some complications with some...fire" </p><p>The human freezes. He catches something bright from the corner of his eye, and turns to it. A small line of fire was trailing to him from the corner of the room. Renjun widens his eyes and runs to the door to get it open again. The line of fire follows him and grows into a large fire spirit. The once dull and dark room, suddenly was a room of large fires. The gigantic fire spirit looms over Renjun as he helplessly clutches to the doorknob. </p><p>He shakes his head. "No...no" he says in weak voice. Renjun's heart starts to beat faster, sweat begins running down his forehead. His breathing becomes faster, tears form in the corner of his eyes. "No, no, no" he says again. The fire spirit slowly starts to come closer to him. Renjun backs into the wall and shakes his head even faster. The tears fall down his face. He can't move, he can't run, he can't fight. He can't do anything. </p><p>"Since you're one of Jaemin's favorite people, I have another surprise for you! Enjoy!" the voice says in a mock like cheerful tone. </p><p>The fire spirit in front of Renjun suddenly starts to vibrate then bursts, making its remaining flames fall like rain. The human blocks his head from it by covering his face with his arm. He slowly lowers his arms and looks to where the fire spirit was. Except, there was no longer a fire spirit, but a little boy. </p><p>He had dark brown hair.</p><p>He adorned a white shirt, green shorts, and red shoes. </p><p>"N-nana?" Renjun calls out. His brain tells him to go to the little boy, but his legs don't move. </p><p>"Nana?" Renjun calls out even louder. </p><p>The boy doesn't move. He doesn't respond. He doesn't even look like he's breathing. </p><p>Then, the line of fire comes back out from the corner of the room again. It slithers up to the little boy, and starts to engulf him in a a large flame of fire. Renjun screams, tears bursting out of his eyes like a waterfall. He can't speak. The human only watches in terror as the giant flame eats up the boy like a predator eating its prey. The boy's body, slowly becomes a pile of ashes. </p><p>Renjun's legs give out causing him to fall onto the ground. "No, no this can't be real, no it can't!" he says to himself.</p><p>"Oh but it is real! Look at him Huang Renjun! Look at him burn to crisp!" the voice says with venom. "No! NO!" Renjun shouts. He crawls up into a ball and puts his hands on his ears. "No! Please stop! Please!!" he shouts even louder. The memory of the burning forest comes back to his mind again. The fire spirit, the burnt flowers. Nana's lifeless body, all bruised and burnt. "Nana, where are you!" Renjun cries out. "Where are you! I want want you here! You said..you said that y-you'll be here with me! W-where a-are you!" The human hicks, and sniffs. He doesn't want to be alone. He wants his friends. He wants his hyungs and geges. He wants his parents. </p><p>He wants Nana.</p><p>"N-nan-na, come back! Please stay here w-with m-me!" Renjun shouts even later. Nana has promised to stay there with him, but where did he go? Where is he now? Renjun wants him here. Injun wants him here, with him. </p><p>Wait.</p><p>He...is here with him..</p><p>Well, actually he was just with him. Nana was with him before Renjun came to this horrid place. At the forest, at the college dorms, at the hospital.</p><p>At the hospital? </p><p>No, no, Renjun means the spirit lab right?</p><p>Wait, no he doesn't.</p><p>Now that he thinks about it, what happened after the fire? Renjun doesn't have a clear memory on what had happened. His mom told him he was sent to the hospital, but why? Was he hurt? He remembers tripping on something, but that was about it. </p><p>Speaking of which, what about Nana? Jaemin's alive today, how did he come back to life? Renjun was sure he was dead when he found him. </p><p>But, for some reason Renjun has a memory of a hospital (looks like his mom was right after all). </p><p>He remembers, a boy. </p><p>A dark haired boy wearing a white t-shirt with green shorts and red shoes. They were all burnt for some reason. He was also, crying. </p><p>Renjun never knew why the boy was crying. He knew one thing for sure though, it was it made him sad. </p><p>It broke his heart when he saw the boy cry. So he told him not to. Then after, the boy suddenly announced his leave. He said goodbye, and left the room Renjun was in. </p><p>But, Renjun didn't want him to leave. The boy was still crying, he didn't want him to leave him when he was still sad. </p><p>Renjun didn't want him to leave in general. </p><p>So Renjun took off his IV needles and heart monitor stickers (till this day he doesn't know what they're called) and ran after the little boy. He avoided the hands of all of the doctors and nurses and ran through the opened sliding doors. </p><p>When he got out, he watched as the little boy was hugged by a teenager, who looked like a high school student. The teenager was caressing the little boy, who was still crying heavily. Renjun tried to go to them, but he was caught by some nurse. He screamed for them to get their hands off of him, and watched as they walked through a window. He wrestles out of their hands and rushes over to where they left. Renjun begins to cry as well when he saw the boy through the window, still sobbing, still sad. </p><p>His family had come around this time and asked what he was doing. Renjun didn't answer and wanted to go through the window. He was held by his mother, who was concerned about his wellbeing. Renjun didn't care, the boy was still crying! The boy, looked up and saw Renjun trying to wrestle out his mother's arms. The boy gave him a small smile and mouthed he was ok. Renjun didn't believe it and kept trying to go to him. The boy puts a hand over his heart and pats it, and mouths "it's ok, you're safe." </p><p>It's ok...You're safe...</p><p>Those words...came out from Nana's mouth before. </p><p>That boy..was Nana! Nana was with him! Nana was there with him! </p><p>He was there with him...</p><p>Renjun takes his head out from his arms. He looks at the room he was in. It was still on fire. Nana's body though, was not there anymore. The human slowly picks himself up from the floor and looks around. Then, he takes small steps into the open space. A line of fire starts to slither back to him again from the corner of the room, and enlarges into a fire spirit again. Renjun gasps and takes a step back against the door again. "Alright Renjun, it's ok, you're ok Renjun. You're safe." The fire spirit comes closer to him again. "If Nana didn't actually die from that fire, you have nothing to fear! Nana is still alive! Nana is-" </p><p>"Here with you!" </p><p>Renjun takes his eyes off of the spirit and to the boy standing next to him. Nana smiled brightly at him. "Don't be afraid Injun" Nana says calmly. "Its ok, you're safe." Renjun smiles back at the boy and nods. "It's ok, I'm safe" he repeats. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens them, Renjun stares directly at the spirit in front of him. "You don't scare me!" Renjun announces. "You know why? Cause I am safe! I am not in danger!" He looks down at his bracelet and shoves it in front of the fire spirit. "See! It's all light purple! I'm not in danger!" he yells again. </p><p>Wait, light purple? </p><p>"Wait a minute it's light purple!" Renjun exclaims. That's strange. In a situation like this, the bracelet should be vibrating right now. It should be pitch black, not a calm lilac. The human looks up at the fire spirit in front of him. Now that he thinks about it, Renjun doesn't even think it's moving. It's just floating there. He raises his hand up and takes a deep breath. Then, Renjun moves his hand closer to the fire spirit. Slowly, he forms his hand to have his pointer finger out. Then, Renjun pokes the fire spirit. </p><p>A flash of light goes off, causing the human to cover his eyes. He jumps back against the door from being startled. When Renjun takes off his hands to see, suddenly the room wasn't on fire anymore. It wasn't dark either. The lights were on. On the left, Renjun could see the table he had felt in the dark, and a ceramic pot with a light purple flower sitting on it. He tilts his head, then realizes what kind of flower it was. </p><p>"A Hallucination Nightmare, not bad Jo, not bad" he mutters in Chinese. The human looks up and sees the camera in the upper corner above the one the line of fire was trailing out of. He takes his vine and whips at the camera. It falls to the ground and shatters into pieces. "You break my mental state, I break your fancy equipment" Renjun says proudly. He walks over to the table and takes a look at the flower. He notices a tube connected to the back of the pot that was running the flower's serum to some thing else. "Looks like he was looking at my fears through the flower's sap." A Hallucination Nightmare can grab a person's inner fears and turn it into reality, hence taking the flower's sap is like taking someone's DNA code and translating it on paper. </p><p>Scary, isn't it. </p><p>The human takes the tube and rips it out of the pot. "Mr. Hallucination Nightmare?" Renjun asks. The flower sits still for a moment, then looks up at the human. "You gotta realize that you just made me go through a mind slip that was based off of my childhood trauma, so how about you make up for it and help me make a potion with your head." </p><p>Trust me, Renjun's not bloodthirsty he just worded his sentence strangely. </p><p>The flower could care less though and just shrugs. It waves it leaf as a way of saying "go ahead" and just goes back to its stoic state. Renjun smiles and thanks the flower, then takes out a potion ball. He goes to pick up the hair pin he dropped earlier and uses it to cut the head of the flower and stuffs it into the ball. Renjun takes some of the sap and fills it up. He shakes it, but it's not shimmering like he wants it too. He needs more flowers if he wants to give Jo Hyungil a taste of his own medicine. Renjun sighs and puts the potion ball onto his belt. He bends down and becomes delighted to see the key just sitting on the second shelf of the table. </p><p>"Did he even try?" Renjun says to himself and walks to the door. He uses the key to unlock it, and smiles brightly when it works. "Great, now it's time to find the others!" </p><p>.</p><p>Taeseok throws Jeno against the wall. The younger wolf turns back into a human, wheezing. "Please, stop. I'm sorry! I didn't meant to treat you like this. Please, please don't kill me!" he begs. Tears were forming from the corners of his eyes. He hates this, he hates this particular feeling. He's too weak for the Parks. Jeno is tired, his energy running low. He can feel the bruises on his cheeks and the cut on his forehead. What was Jeno thinking? Why is he even trying to fight them? The Parks are stronger then him, are more powerful then him. He's never going to win against them. </p><p>But, he did win against them. He has won against them before. </p><p>It's all coming to Jeno now. He defeated Park Myungchul! He became allies with his children, who are nothing like him! Sure he had his doubts, but they're one of Jeno's closest allies. In what universe would a ally want to attack another ally. </p><p>Plus, logically thinking, Park Myungchul is in prison. Sungjoon and them are back at the mansion, having no idea he's in here right now. Kyungmi doesn't even know how to fight! She doesn't even like to be in her wolf form (she said she feels scary when she's a wolf, so she likes to be in her dog form, a small husky pup, instead)! </p><p>"Sungjoon" creeps up to Jeno, growling and baring his sharp teeth. Jeno looks up and gives the "wolf" a smirk. "If you're really real, you wouldn't fight me so aggressively. The Sungjoon I know would fight with strategy, and precision." The "wolf" doesn't respond to Jeno and keeps growling, a action he had repeated throughout the whole fight. Jeno raises his hand, then sticks his hand through the form of the "wolf's" body, a bit surprised to see it go through. "I already fought with you Parks, and I will not fight with you again" Jeno says, then retracts his hand. A flash of light goes off causing him to turn to the wall. When he turns back, the wolves were gone. He spots a key on the second shelf of a table and rushes over to it. "Where the heck were you?" he asks no one in particular. The wolf takes out his whistle and blows on it. "The others are still in the rooms" he says to himself. </p><p>Jeno rushes over to the door. He puts the key in and twists it. "Oh thank god" he says, when it unlocks. He opens the door, then dashes outside to find his friends and hyung. </p><p>.</p><p>"There!" Dejun gasps. </p><p>The men crowd around Yoonoh's screen upon seeing Yuta's body just laying on the ground. "Where's the boys?" Kun asks. Yoonoh shakes his head. He looks over to the camera Gunhang was controlling. It was still going through a long hallway. He whips his head back to the screen when he hears two doors burst open on the camera. </p><p>"Jeno!" Renjun shouts. Jeno looks to who called out his name and runs over to his friend. "Renjun! Are you ok?" he asks. The human nods. "Are you ok?" Renjun asks back. The wolf pats his face and notices his cuts and bruises weren't there anymore. "Apparently so!" he answers. Renjun looks at the opened room behind the wolf. He sees the Nightmare flower sitting in its pot. "Jeno, hold the door open, and don't let it close" Renjun says. Jeno nods and runs over to the door to hold it open. Renjun in the meanwhile goes over to the flower and asks for its head. Like the flower in the other room, it shrugs and allows Renjun to take it. The human does and stuffs it into the potion. It shimmers more, but it's not enough. He runs back out and nods towards the camera when he faces Jeno. "You do the honors" he smiles. Jeno smiles back and tells Renjun to hold the door open. The wolf changes his form and takes a running start. Then he leaps at a high height and rips the camera out with his bare teeth and smashes it onto the floor. </p><p>"Woah! I've never seen you jump like that before!" Renjun exclaims. The wolf comes trotting back, turns back into a human. "Eh, it's a skill I recently learned" Jeno says. They let the door of the room close, then hear something groaning behind them. "Guys?" Yuta says. "Hyung!" Renjun and Jeno both say. The pair runs up to the elder wolf and helps him up. "Ugh, what happened? Are you guys ok? Where's Hyuck?" he asks. "We don't know, we think he's still in the room" Renjun says. Yuta nods, and notices the camera floating behind the pair. He puts his finger on his earpiece. "Now you came!? What happened to 'watching our backs?!"' the older wolf yells. Renjun and Jeno share glances and jolt back when they see the floating camera behind them. </p><p>"Sorry hyung, it took a long time for both cameras to get into the tunnel. Don't get us started with finding the pathways" Yoonoh sighs. "The cameras can fly?!" Jeno exclaims. Taeil takes the mic. "No, you can't fly them." Jeno pouts then turns to help Yuta up with Renjun. "What happened to you guys? Where's Donghyuck?" the dragon asks through the mic. "We got trapped in a room with a Hallucination Nightmare. Donghyuck's still in his own room, so we need to convince him to break out the hallucination" Renjun responds. </p><p>A bang against one of the doors of the room is heard. Renjun, Jeno, and Yuta look at each other, and run over to that room with the camera following them. Renjun bangs on the door. "Donghyuck! Hyuck!" he calls out. Another bang hits the door. "Donghyuck! Snap out of it! It's a hallucination!" Jeno yells through the door. </p><p>On the other side, Donghyuck pushes a water creature out of the way with a stream of water. He was sweaty, and very tired from fighting all of them. "Donghyuck!" he hears from the other side. "Renjun?" he yells back. The merman gets slammed in the stomach by a water whip from one of the creatures. "Hyuck! Stop fighting! It's a hallucination!" Renjun yells back. Donghyuck slams a water creature with a weak stream. "How do you know? These seem pretty real to me!" he responds. </p><p>"What are you fighting!?" Jeno yells. </p><p>Another water whip hits Donghyuck from the back. "I don't know!" he responds. </p><p>"What do you mean you don't know!?" Yuta yells. </p><p>Donghyuck hits a creature, but gets hit back into the corner of the room. "I just don't know! They're made out of water, they have no hands!" he yells back. </p><p>"What is that?" Jeno asks Renjun. Renjun shakes his head, and puts his finger on his earpiece. "Taeil hyung, are there such things as creatures that are made out of water with no hands?" </p><p>Taeil raises an eyebrow and takes the mic. "No? I've never heard of that before" he responds. Renjun takes his finger off of the earpiece. "Donghyuck! They're not real! Think about it! Have you ever seen or heard of these things in our course before!? We learned about almost all of the elemental creatures in Neo City!" </p><p>The merman, stares at the water creatures in fear as they all start to back him up into the corner. "Uh.. no?" he yells back. </p><p>"Then put your hand through them!" </p><p>"What?!"</p><p>"Put your hand through them!" </p><p>Donghyuck shakes his head, eyes widening as the creatures are coming closer. "But what if they're-" </p><p>"THERE'S NO WHAT IFS! JUST PUT YOUR HAND THROUGH THEM!!" Jeno shouts. Donghyuck closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Alright, just do what they say. Do if fast like ripping off of a bandaid Hyuck" he says to himself. He opens his eyes, then puts his hand through one of the creatures. A flash of light causes him to cover his eyes and scream. </p><p>"What happened? Is he ok?" Yuta asks. Renjun and Jeno nods. "It must've been the flash of light, that's how the hallucinations explode" Renjun explains. "Hyuck open your eyes! It's ok!" Jeno shouts. </p><p>Slowly, Donghyuck opens his eyes. The water creatures were gone. The only thing that was in the room was a table and a flower pot sitting on top of it. He walks out from the corner hesitantly, and looks around the room. The merman looks up and notices a security camera snuggled in the upper corner. </p><p>The man was watching him. He KNEW this was happening, and encouraged it. </p><p>Donghyuck clenches his fists. He feels a flood of anger and fury rush through his head. He summons a stream of water and manipulates it to the camera. When the camera gets covered, the merman throws it off from the corner and through the door behind him, making it go through said door and almost crash into Renjun and Jeno who were standing in front of the room. They look at the crushed camera on the floor in shock, then turn their head to be even more shocked to see a hole in the door. Through the hole was Donghyuck, his stance reflecting his anger. </p><p>"Remind me to not anger anyone with a elemental power" Yuta says, specifically speaking to the people at the police station. Said people, who had watched this camera burst out of the door in a stream of water, slowly turn their head to Dejun. The water spirit looks at them and raises an eyebrow. "What?" he asks innocently. </p><p>Meanwhile, Renjun bends down and looks through the hole. "Donghyuck!" he calls out. The merman straightens his posture and looks at the hole. His expression quickly turns from furious, to elated when he sees his best friend looking through the hole. Renjun almost misses the dark blue that was in Donghyuck's eyes. The merman runs up to the hole and peeks through. "Yo!" he greets. "Yo!" Renjun greets back. "Are you ok?" Yuta asks. Donghyuck nods his head. "What about you hyung? Are you feeling ok?" Yuta nods back, then turns to Renjun and Jeno. "What does he need to do to leave?" he asks. Renjun and Jeno turn back to the hole. "Go to the table. There's a key on the second shelf" Jeno instructs. "Make sure to ask to take the head of the flower!" Renjun says. Donghyuck grabs the key then looks at the flower and rips the head off. "NO ASK IT FIRST!!" Renjun yells.</p><p>The merman walks back and unlocks the door. "I can't talk to flowers like you Huang, it's not gonna understand me" he says. Instead of a snarky remark back, Renjun hugs Donghyuck who hugs him back. Jeno and Yuta join the hug, then disperses. "Here's your head dude" he laughs, while handing the flower head. Renjun takes it, and stuffs it into the potion ball. The shimmer grows, making it look like the night sky. Renjun smiles. It's ready. </p><p>"Woah! Since when did the camera fly?" Donghyuck asks. "Don't touch it you brat" Taeil says into the mic. Donghyuck tsks and crosses his arms. "Now what do we do?" Jeno asks through the earpiece. "Follow the camera" Doyoung says. "Gotchu, wait a minute, why is Doyoung hyung TALKING IN THE MIC!?!" Donghyuck exclaims. Renjun and Jeno share panicked glances and look at Yuta who was equally as surprised. "We'll explain to you later." Kun says (which made Donghyuck scream..even though he kinda told Donghyuck he had a 0 earlier..). "Follow the camera, we think the others are still in trouble."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*: </p><p>*Mark closing his hand two times: This is a signal the Dreamies will often use to silently tell the others how many people are present. Mark opened and closed his hand two times, meaning there are 10 people present. </p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0037"><h2>37. 22. Fire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Dreamies finally save Lee Taeyong, and defeat Jo Hyungil</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Y'all it's here </p><p>The end of Renjun's arc! </p><p>I wanna thank you guys for coming along on this journey so far! We are officially half way through the story, and it makes me excited to write more of what's to come! </p><p>It's a long one so get comfy! </p><p>I hope you guys enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When the others were having trouble, Jaemin, Mark, Chenle, Jisung, and Johnny were still walking through the path on the right. </p><p>"We should've taken the other path, this one is literally like the other one" Jisung whines. Johnny laughs and puts a arm around the younger. "Oh lighten up, I'm sure something interesting will happen." </p><p>And as he said, something interesting happens. </p><p>Out of the blue, agents knock them all but Jaemin unconscious. The hybrid tries to fight them off, but gets hit by a stream of water in the stomach. It pushes him to the ground, further away from the group. "Did that hurt? Na Jaemin." Jaemin gets up and looks at the person talking to him. The vampire from District U earlier was standing in front of his friend's unconscious bodies. The other agents start to pick them up and drag them. Jaemin seeing them, he gets up to charge at them, but gets blocked by the vampire and once again, falls to the floor.</p><p>"Having trouble Jaemin?" The vampire says with a creepy smile. The hybrid growls at him. He gets up to attack him, but gets hit in the head by a pole by another agent. Jaemin falls to the ground, his vision becoming blurry. His eye lids slowly fall to a close, making the lightning vampire's smile the last thing Jaemin sees before giving in to unconsciousness. </p><p>"Renjun..please be ok.." </p><p>.</p><p>"The other camera had been suspiciously shot down when it came into this hall" Yoonoh explains through the mic. The camera leads the four into the hallway the other half of the team should've been in. There were seemed to be no signs of them anywhere. Until, they came across a broken camera. </p><p>"We found it" Yuta says through the earpiece. He crouches down to observe the poor camera. Bits of lightning were crackling out of it. "A lightning elemental broke it" Renjun says. Yuta nods and gets up. "Find any other clues as to where the others may be." Renjun, Jeno, and Donghyuck nod, then disperse. It wasn't long until Jeno finds Mark's ring on the floor. "Oh no" Donghyuck says under his breath. Him, Renjun, and Yuta run up to the younger wolf. Donghyuck takes the ring from Jeno and observes it. "There's no way he could've taken this off on purpose. It's a tool that helps him sees enemies, it's illogical for him to discard it" he says. "Then that means they're in trouble we have to find them" Jeno replies. "But where could they have gone?" </p><p>Renjun snaps his fingers. "Hyung, are the other three cameras in the other building?" Yoonoh flips through the screens. "Yup, still there" he replies back. "Is it possible for you to bring them in here? You remember which way we went through right?" Yoonoh reacts with a unsure nod and digs through a box for a controller. "It took a hella long time for the camera to actually get to where you guys are, but we can try do that." He takes out a controller, connects to another camera and hands it over to Gunhang. "Great! Try to find the others with that camera so that way we can look around the area better" Renjun says. "Wow, Huang your 4.1 GPA is coming in real nicely" Jeno teases. </p><p>"Got it, go ahead and find the others, we'll be right there" Yoonoh says. Doyoung reaches for the mic. "Be careful guys!" </p><p>.</p><p>"Ugh..." </p><p>A ringing sound goes through Mark's ears when he first wakes up. There was a sharp pain in his head, and a heavy feeling that came with it. When he opens his eyes, a dim white light hits him in the face. As his vision adjusts, he sees something that is similar to prison bars. </p><p>Oh wait they were prison bars. </p><p>Mark slowly gets up from the floor while messaging his temples. "Ugh..Where am I" he groans. He takes a moment to get his senses together, then opens his eyes fully. In front of him were indeed prison bars. They had a yellow glow that covered each and every individual bar. Squinting, Mark notices a talisman stuck to a bar. "Fuck, it's a cleansing spell to keep me inside."  He feels for his ring to look for the others, but the only ring he felt was his couple ring. Mark's eyes widen in panic. He looks down at his hands. Sure enough, the ring Taeil gave him was gone. </p><p>The vampire groans again and leans against the wall. "Ok think Mark think. They couldn't have gotten far from here. I should try figure out how to get out of this cage for now." He looks at the bars. "But how, they're literally encased in a spell." During his ponder, Mark catches something red fly in the prison cell across from him. He freezes. It could be a friend, or a foe. Most likely a foe. </p><p>The red thing flies across again. Considering its in a prison cell, Mark assumes its a friend. He gets up from the wall and walks hesitantly, closer to the other cell without touching the bars. Upon closer look, the thing was a fire spirit. "E-excuse me?" he asks. The spirit stops flying. When it turns around, Mark gasps and smiles. </p><p>"Flameio!!"</p><p>The fire spirit tilts his head at Mark, then flies around in circles in joy after realizing who it was. "Oh my god! We found you! You're alive! Oh this is great!" Mark exclaims. He walks around in a few circles of his own then turns back. "Have you seen the others? I was with four other people, but I don't know where they are." Flameio looks left then right. He nods his head when he sees someone, and points to them with his tail. "I don't know who that is since they're right next to me. Who is he?" Flameio looks at the person in the cell next to Mark's, then back at the vampire. "Ah, sorry, I forgot you can't speak. Um, ok, yes or no questions then. Float up for yes, and float down for no." </p><p>"Is it Chenle?" </p><p>Flameio floats down.</p><p>"Jisung?" </p><p>He floats down. </p><p>"Is he a really long legged person?" Mark asks. Flameio floats up. "It's Johnny hyung!" the vampire exclaims. On cue, Mark hears groans from the cell on his left. "Hyung! Hyung!" the vampire yells. "Mark?" he hears back. "Yeah it's me! Are you ok?" </p><p>"Yeah, I'm ok..Where are we?" Johnny asks. "I don't know, but we found Flameio!" Mark says with triumph. </p><p> </p><p>"YOU FOUND FLAMEIO!?!" </p><p>Mark turns to his right. "Chenle?" he calls out. Flameio points to his right with his tail. Mark moves around to get a better view of the cell next to Flameio's. He smiles when he sees Chenle standing up, with his back turned. "Chenle! Chenle over here!!" The leprechaun turns around, looking for the voice, then sees Mark. He smiles and waves back at the vampire. "Hyung!!! Where's Flameio!?" he yells. "Right in front of me!" Mark yells back. Chenle widens his eyes and turns to his left. "HI LEE TAEYONG!!" The fire spirit turns to his right and tilts his head. "He doesn't remember his real name yet Chenle!" Johnny shouts. "Johnny hyung! the younger yells, turning to his front. </p><p>All right, they gotta find Jaemin and Jisung now. Luckily, Mark sees a head full of white hair popping into view in the cell on the left of Flameio. "Jisung! Jisung Park!" Mark yells. The boy looks to the right and his left after hearing his name, then turns around. "Hyung!" he yells. He turns to his front. "Hyung!" he says again, this time it being directed to Johnny. "Sup, how are you doing?" the wolf asks. Jisung shrugs and tugs on his shirt. "Kinda hot, I'm sweating right now." </p><p>"Do you see Jaemin anywhere? I don't seem him on your side" Mark asks Flameio. The fire spirit looks to the right and left of Mark's cell. His vibrant red and orange turn pale when he doesn't see the vampire anywhere. "Jaemin's not here" Mark mutters. His teammates turn to him. "He's not here?" Johnny asks. "What if he's in another cell away from us?" Chenle says. "Even then, that's pretty bad isn't? That means we're missing a person!" Jisung responds back. </p><p>This isn't good, they can't have a person missing. Especially if it's Jaemin, who the agents were targeting the most. They need to get out of here, and fast. "Hyung, what are your bars made out of?" Mark asks. "Silver, yours?" Johnny responds back. "Mine has a cleansing spell" Mark says. Jisung raises his hand. "Mine is made out of a fire spell" he says. The vampire turns to Chenle. "What about you Chenle?" he asks. "UH.. SOMETHING PURPLE!" Chenle yells back. "I DON'T KNOW ANY SPELLS." Mark turns back to Flameio's cell. It was covered in a ice spell, he can tell by the frost on the bar and the light blue shine surrounding it. "Chenle try shrink and walk through the gaps of the bar!" Johnny yells. The leprechaun nods and shrinks. When he tries to go through the gaps, it bounces him back against the wall. "Ow" he says, when he grows back. "Knew it, the gaps of the bars are covered by the spell. Dang they're smart" Johnny says. </p><p>Each of the cell bars were made out of something or activated by a spell that is made to weaken them. They can't even touch the bars, or else they'll get hurt. Mark sighs, and leans against the wall again. He accidentally hits his head on the concrete and rubs his head. A light bulb turns on in his head. "Chenle! What are your walls made out of?" he asks. Chenle looks up. "Concrete? I don't know." Jisung and Johnny turn their heads towards Chenle's cell. The leprechaun widens his eyes in realization. "It's made out of concrete!" he exclaims. He touches the wall on the left and knocks on it. Indeed was it concrete. The agents had forgotten one detail about our friend when preparing the cell. </p><p>Chenle puts his hands on the wall and closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath, then starts to push into the wall. Flameio flies away from the wall Chenle was pushing into and watches in awe as the wall starts to form yellow glowing cracks in a scraggly circle. On the other side was Chenle, who was currently pushing the piece of the wall out to make a large hole. "Come on!" he yells. The piece little by little, starts to jut out, then finally crashes onto the floor. Chenle winces on how loud the sound was and looks around. Then he steps over into Flameio's cell. "Ooo! It's cold in here!" he exclaims. Flameio nods sadly and points to the ice bars in front of them. "How did you manage to survive this long?" he asks. The fire spirit answers by encasing himself in a large flame. His color gets brighter after doing so. "Nice!" Chenle says. He turns to the front and waves to Mark. Mark waves back. "Do you know how you can break Flameio out?" he asks. The younger furrows his eyebrows and looks at the ice bars in front of him. He turns to Flameio. "Stay in my cell for now so you can heat yourself faster, I'll try go free Jisung so he can unfreeze em for you." </p><p>"Do it quickly, Jisung's sweating bullets" Johnny says, his voice laced with concern. The fae doesn't say anything and wipes the sweat off of his brow. Chenle and Flameio share a nod. The fire spirit flies over to Chenle's cell while the latter puts his hands on the wall of Jisung's cell and breaks a hole through. "Oh god! Why didn't you take off your hoodie?" he asks. Jisung turns to his best friend and points a finger to him. "That's..a very good question." Chenle rolls his eyes in response and gestures for Jisung to cross over into the other cell. "Ahh, this is much better, Flameio go into my cell" Jisung says. The fire spirit nods and flies into the fae's cell, his color immeaditly getting more colorful once he arrives. </p><p>"Hyung, let me go through Johnny hyung's cell and make a hole for you to cross over" Chenle says. "Thanks Chenle, you're doing great" Mark says with a smile. Chenle shrinks down and goes through the gaps of the icy bars. He was about to run to Johnny's cell, when suddenly a agent who happened to pass by stops in front of the hallway of cells the team was in. Chenle yelps and runs to the wall. Everyone freezes, like a roach who has been caught by a human being. "Shit, shit, shit" Mark thinks. The agent narrows his eyes into the hallway, sensing something is wrong. </p><p>He puts one foot into the hallway.</p><p>Chenle holds his breath and smashes his back into the wall.</p><p>The agent puts another foot into the hallway. </p><p>Then..</p><p>..gets a phone call. </p><p>"Hello?" the agent answers. He steps out of the hallway. "Yeah I'm not busy, what's up?" he asks. The team waits for the agent to walk away, far enough for him to not hear their breakout session. After hearing that he is a good distance away, they all breathe a sigh of relief. Chenle runs to Johnny's cell and goes through the bars. "Hello" Johnny greets. "Hi!" Chenle greets back. Chenle puts his hands on the wall to Mark's cell and creates another hole. "Chenle!" Mark says. "Hyung!" Chenle says back. The vampire climbs over into the other cell and watch Chenle with Johnny take a piece of the floor and ram it through the cell bars. "That was satisfying to do" Chenle says. "That was satisfying to watch. Thanks Chenle" Johnny says. They climb out of the cell. Jisung and Flameio had charged their energy and were ready to escape. Flameio melts the bars down with the help of the fire spell, and flies out with ease. Jisung freezes his bars and lets Chenle take another piece of the floor and throw it into them. The bars, having been double freezed by Jisung and the spell, breaks easily like crushing freeze dried fruit. </p><p>"I'm so glad you have an elemental power" Jisung says, stepping out. "Me too!" Chenle says. Johnny chuckles and gestures for the whole team to leave, having found Lee Taeyong and a way to escape. </p><p>Now they need to find Jaemin and the others. </p><p>.</p><p>"Are these guys moles? Why is this tunnel so damn long?" Jungwoo asks. He hears something rustling from his side and turns. "Hey! Where did you find the snacks!?" Dejun points to Yukhei, who just came back from interviewing a bunch of District V vendors. "He was hungry!" Yukhei defends. Kun turns around and glares at the trio for bickering so loudly. They freeze and stop talking immeaditly. Yukhei, slowly reaches for a power bar in a basket next to him and hands it to Kun. The older continues to glare at them and eyes the bar. He takes it and turns back to the screen. Jungwoo pouts. "Here you can have this hyung!" Yukhei says, handing the gumiho a sausage. Jungwoo smiles and happily accepts it. </p><p>Meanwhile, Yoonoh and Gunhang silently stare at the screen while they're maneuvering through the twisted grey hallways (it kinda scares Doyoung a bit). "Did Gunhang ge find anything yet?" Renjun asks through the earpiece. Doyoung and Kun turn to the younger ghost. He shakes his head in response. "No, he didn't" Doyoung says into the mic.</p><p>Renjun sighs. "You would think that a place that's running with agents, something interesting would happen" Donghyuck whines.</p><p>Then, something interesting happens. </p><p>While he was stoically guiding the camera through the hallway, Gunhang suddenly screams when the screen suddenly becomes frozen in ice from the other side. The camera he was controlling drops to the ground, but it doesn't break. "Did you find something?" Yukhei asks, coming up from behind Gunhang with Dejun and Jungwoo. Taeil looks over and widens his eyes. He reaches over to the mic, and switches the channel to the other team. "Jisung? Jisung reply if you hear!" </p><p>"I'm here!" Jisung replies. "Shoot, we should've used the earpiece help us escape" Johnny says, crossing his arms. "Eh, they wouldn't find where we were since we didn't know. Plus, It was fun seeing Chenle wreck the place" Mark replies. Chenle nods proudly and looks at the thing on the ground that Jisung froze. They were walking aimlessly in the hallway when suddenly they saw it flying into the hallway. Startled, Jisung had screamed and shot it with his ice. Upon closer inspection, Chenle realizes it's the camera the window team had scattered through out the other building. "How did this camera get in here? I thought it was in the other building!" he exclaims. </p><p>"This camera is able to fly with a controller, we sent it out looking for you. Jisung unfreeze it and whatever you do don't touch it or so help me" Taeil quickly explains. Johnny shakes his head and watches Jisung unfreeze the camera. The propeller on the top of it spurts to life allowing it to fly up again. Taeil squints at the screen. "Um, where's Jaemin?" he asks. Doyoung takes his eyes off of Yoonoh's screen and turns to Taeil. "Jaemin's missing?" he asks, and runs over to the other screen. Fair enough, everyone in that group was there except for Jaemin. "We got knocked out by a couple of agents and were thrown into prison cells. We escaped and we're looking for the others and Jaemin right now" Mark says through the ear piece. "Did you see where Jaemin went before you became unconscious?" Doyoung asks. Mark shakes his head on the camera. "We got knocked out before we could see." </p><p>Yukhei looks at Gunhang's screen then briefly eyes Yoonoh's. He does a double take and points to Yoonoh's screen. "Wait! They're right near each other! The places look the same!" he exclaims. "Aren't all the places in this tunnel look the same though?" Dejun asks. </p><p>Kun and Yoonoh, stare at Yoonoh's screen mundanely. "No! They're in the same place! Trust me guys!" Yukhei says. "I feel like you're being over positive my friend" Taeil says. Kun watches the camera fly through the hallway. It comes up to a turn, and takes a left, missing the hallway that was straight ahead. Kun didn't miss it though, because he caught a particular snow white head of hair and a tall ass wolf following a camera of their own. The wizard widens his eyes and tries to grab the controller out of Yoonoh's hands. "Hyung! What are you doing?" the grim reaper says, getting the attention of the other people near them. "Go back! I think I saw the others!" Kun says. </p><p>On the other side, Renjun and the group watch the camera as it spins around in circles and in weird motions. "Is everything ok back there?" Yuta asks through his ear piece. Kun manages to wrestle the controller out of Yoonoh's hands and pressed the joy stick back. The camera immeaditly zooms back at a fast pace, not allowing enough time for its followers to realize on where it's going. "Wait! Come back!" Jeno shouts. He turns into a Samoyed and runs after the camera with Yuta in his wolf form, Donghyuck and Renjun following him. "How do you work this thing?" Kun asks. The camera passes by the hallway the other half of the team were in. "Ge! You passed it!" Yukhei exclaims. Kun gasps and presses the joystick the other direction, making the camera move towards the group. "GAH WATCH OUT!" Renjun shouts, pointing at the camera that was coming back to them at a fast pace. Mark hears this and looks at the hallway in front of the one they're in. "Was that Renjun?" he asks.</p><p>Renjun and Donghyuck move to the side while Jeno and Yuta gets down onto the floor. Mark, Jisung, Chenle, and Johnny, along with Flameio comes running up to the hallway the others were in. Without knowing, Mark steps into the other hallway and turns to see a camera speed up to him. "AH!" he screams and ducks down.  "Hyung just give it to me! They found them!" Yoonoh says. He grabs the controller back from Kun and directs the camera back to where the team was. </p><p>"Hyung!" Donghyuck says when he sees Mark. The merman runs up to him, and the two share a tight hug. "Are you alright? Were you guys hurt?" Donghyuck asks. Mark gives him a small smile and gives a peck on his forehead. "We're fine." Donghyuck lets go and digs through his pocket. He pulls out Mark's sensor ring and hands it to him. "Good thing it wasn't your couple ring, I would've killed you" he says. Mark laughs and accepts it. "Thanks Hyuck" he says. Renjun smiles slightly at the couple, then notices something orange fly behind Jisung's back. He squints and sees a little fire spirit poke out from the fae's shoulder. "Flameio?" he says quietly. The group looks at Renjn, then at Lee Taeyong. Jisung, turns his head and allowed Flameio to come out. "You found him!" Jeno exclaims. </p><p>The men at the police station drop their jaws. Doyoung widens his eyes. His heart feels a tug as he looks at the fire spirit. He looked more healthy, his color being brighter then when Doyoung had last saw him. He feels tears prick the corner of his eyes. Doyoung looks down at the table for a bit, Taeil patting his back with a comforting hand. </p><p>"Yup! We broke out of prison together!" Chenle says. Yuta raises and eyebrow and eyes Johnny. The taller gives him a awkward smile and shrugs. "He's not lying" he says. During their talk, Renjun notices someone was missing from the group. "Jaemin! Where is he?" he asks the other team. "That's the thing, we got knocked unconscious, and Jaemin went missing. We need to find him quick" Mark says. Jeno puts a hand on Renjun's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure he's fine. He's Jaemin, he'll think of a way." The human nods slightly. Yeah, he'll be fine, Jaemin is going to be fine. The dude lived in a forest by himself as a kid, he'll be fine. </p><p>Right? </p><p>Footsteps suddenly come from the other end of the hallway. The team turns and sees a agent walking up to them while talking on the phone. When he takes notice of them, he stops walking. Flameio turns pale and hides behind Renjun. "I g-gotta go!" the agent says and quickly hangs up the phone. He pulls out a gun, and points it at them. "Freeze!" the agents say. Donghyuck tsks and crosses his arms. Chenle manipulates the floor under the agent to go up. Donghyuck follows after, by using a stream of water to knock the agent off. The agent drops the gun and becomes unconscious upon hitting the ground. Mark uses his super speed to catch the gun. He observes it and takes out the barrel. The rest of the group runs over, cameras following them. </p><p>"What do you have Mark?" Kun asks. Mark shows the bullets of the gun to the camera. "What are these?" he asks. The men take a closer look at the bullets on the screen. "They seem to be spirit bullets. If you get hit by them, your spiritual energy can go down greatly" Taeil answers. Doyoung whips his head towards Taeil. "Enough to kill a spirit?" he asks. Taeil nods. "Yes, so keep Taeyong safe. Keep him protected at all times." </p><p>Jeno takes out a map from the agent's pocket. "Oh, well that's convenient" he says. The team crowds around the younger wolf to look at the map he had in his hands. Sure enough, they were in a massive tunnel maze with random pathways leading up to random rooms. "No wonder he carries a map with him, this is confusing!" Donghyuck exclaims. Renjun puts a finger on a specific part of the map. "That's where Jo Hyungil must be. If he's there, then Jaemin is there." If Jo Hyungil wanted Jaemin to be captured, then sure enough they're going to bring him over there to him. It's most likely considering the hybrid never came to the prison cells with his half of the team. </p><p>"Then let's go there then" Jeno says. He rolls up the map to its original form and stuffs it into his pocket. "Alright, get ready everyone" Taeil says into the mic. "This is not gonna look pretty." </p><p>Oh, they knew.</p><p>Did they have a choice though? </p><p>Of course not. </p><p>.</p><p>At the scene were a pair of large doors that were closed, guarded by two agents. The team hides behind a wall in the hallway they came in through. </p><p>"Alright, so what's the plan?" Renjun asks, after checking out the area. "First, turn the cameras into invisibility mode and have them hide over there so they can watch our backs" Mark instructs. "What if you need help in there?" Doyoung asks. "You'll be helping us by keeping watch, don't worry" Johnny replies. </p><p>During the discussion, Donghyuck eyes the security cameras that hanged on the ceiling. They were pointing directly towards the entrance of the doors, but not anything else in front of it. He turns back to the team and notices Jeno looking at the cameras as well. They make eye contact and exchange a nod. "Hey guys" Donghyuck says. "Here's what we can do." </p><p>.</p><p>The agents give the snow white Samoyed dog a strange look as it comes trotting up to them and sits down. They don't react or say word when the dog smiles at them and wags its tail. One only sighs, and takes out his baton. "Go away! Shoo!" he says. He keeps trying to poke the baton at the dog, not noticing the stream of water coming above his head. It goes up towards a camera and knocks it down to the floor. Another camera falls to the floor after a rock was thrown against it. </p><p>The agents take their eyes off of the dog and look at the cameras beside them. They don't get to have enough time to react when they are suddenly entrapped in ice, and are tackled by two wolves to the ground. The rest of the team come out of their hiding spot in front of the doors. Mark puts his thumb on his ring. "10 people" he reports. Renjun nods and lock picks the door open with his hair pin. Jeno turns into his wolf form from his dog one and bursts the doors open by headbutting it. </p><p>The room inside had opened widows and a chandelier on the top. A extravagant chair sat on a platform on in the center of the back wall. On the left was a security panel with all of the footage the security cameras bring in. On the extravagant chair in the center was Jo Hyungil. Beside him was the woman Renjun saw on the day the ice spirit got hurt, with the lightning vampire on the other side. In the back of the room was a couch and a coffee table facing towards Jo Hyungil with a large painting of a white tiger behind it. Sitting at the couch was a bruised and tied up Jaemin with 6 agents surrounding him. </p><p>Jaemin scoffs and looks towards Jo Hyungil. "What did I tell you? Stop acting so knowledgeable when clearly you don't know two shits about my life" he smirks. The lightning vampire charges up a bolt of lighting in his hand to hurt Jaemin with, but gets stopped by the raising of Jo Hyungil's hand. "If you want to redeem yourself for letting these people escape the prisons, then I suggest for you to direct that bolt at THEM" he says harshly without looking at the vampire. At his command, the vampire directs the bolt at the team. The group watches as the large lightning bolt comes hurling at them. Before it could hit any of them, Jisung makes his way to the front and stomps his foot onto the floor. A giant ice wall forms up from his feet and freezes the bolt mid air. The bolt slowly turns from a neon yellow, to a neon blue while encased in the ice, then looses its light. </p><p>"What are you doing!? Get them and make sure Jaemin stays in my sight!!" Jo Hyungil yells.</p><p>The room suddenly springs into action. The team at the door way disperse to avoid the attacks being thrown at them. Renjun and Jeno make their way to the Jaemin that was sitting at the couch. Renjun takes out his last glue potion and launches it at the four agents coming to attack them. Jeno turns into his wolf form and leaps to tackle them all down to the floor. They both come to Jaemin's aid and try to untie the ropes. "Renjun don't touch it, it's the fire infused rope again" Jaemin says. Renjun nods and calls for Chenle. "Make a dagger!" he yells in Chinese. Chenle knocks a agent out with a piece of the floor and makes a dagger. He launches it towards the trio at the couch, Jeno catching it with his hands. "Don't throw knives next time!" Jeno yells back and cuts the ropes to set Jaemin free. </p><p>More agents came into the room. Yuta and Jisung share glances before the older pushes most of them out and closes the doors. Jisung freezes them shut, then avoids a punch from a agent.The fae makes eye contact with Chenle, then pushes the agent to the ground. Chenle steps on the floor like Jisung had done earlier. The floor raises up a podium that launches the agent into the air. Jisung shoots a some of his ice elemental at the agent, pushing her against two of her comrades. The three agents tumble against the wall and fall limp onto the ground. </p><p>Dodging every bolt from the vampire, Mark turns into his bat form and flies close to his face and around his head. "Stop it! Stop it you nuisance!" the vampire exclaims. He shoots bolts ungracefully to try to hit Mark, but ends up tripping over Donghyuck's stream of water. The merman comes up to the fallen lightning vampire and smiles. "Not so tough now are you?" he says. He puts his hand on the vampire's band and rips it off. Neon yellow orbs take over the vampire as he's screaming for help. Jo Hyungil and the woman look away, not wanting to help their fallen comrade as he dissolves away. </p><p>Jo Hyungil though, catches something from the corner of his eye in the midst of the chaos. The fire spirit he was holding for ransom, was flying around the room, shooting fire balls at his agents and avoiding the spirit bullets from their guns. The man nods towards his assistant, who nods back and goes into the scene, using her super speed. She gets stopped by a free Jaemin, holding his hand up towards her. "Not so fast lady" he says. The woman launches a poisonous gas elemental at the hybrid, who dodges it immeaditly. She pushes Jaemin to the back of the room while being on the offensive side of their battle. Coming behind her, Renjun tries to use a talisman he received from the textile vendor from earlier, but fails when she moves to the side. He falls onto the ground face first beside her. The woman attacks the human next to her on the ground, but he rolls out of the way and gets up. The woman's focus is now on Renjun, who encases himself in his shield. The human grabs a potion ball from his belt then waits for the right time to throw it. When it came, he puts down his shield and throws the potion ball at the woman who avoids it and launches another attack at the human. </p><p>"Ah!" Renjun exclaims and moves out of the way. The gas ball hits the couch, making the spot it hit bubble from its high acidity. The woman tries to go after him, but catches something whisp past her ear. She whips her head and shoots a gas ball at the fire spirit. Flameio counterattacks it by throwing a fire ball at it, making a mini explosion in the room. The impact it makes, catches everyone's attention. They all look up at the fire spirit that is currently dodging all of the gas balls the woman is throwing at him. "Protect the fire spirit!" Johnny exclaims before headbutting a agent unconscious.</p><p>"Not so fast you twerps!" Jo Hyungil yells. </p><p>The man brings out his hands. They start to be encased in a dark purple cloud. Suddenly everyone in the room, except for the woman, becomes still as a result of Jo Hyungil's telekinesis. The man throws all of them against the wall, but not enough to make them unconscious.</p><p>"You are not going anywhere!!"</p><p>"Oh yeah? Try us!"</p><p> Jaemin gets up and tackles with his Jo Hyungil with his super speed.  Jo Hyungil turns the battle around and  holds Jaemin against the ground. "You little brat!" the older man says. Donghyuck uses a stream of water and pushes him off from the side.  "LOOK OUT!" Renjun yells. Jaemin turns around and moves out of the way from Jo Hyungil's gas ball. The man throws another one at the Jaemin and Renjun, then one at Jeno and Donghyuck. They dodge it, making the man more annoyed. "BONHWA! CALL THE OTHER SPIRITS AND HAVE THEM TO BE RELEASED HERE!" </p><p>"Bonhwa" turns to her boss and nods. She pulls out some sort of remote from her pocket and attempts to press a button. That attempt is lost when Mark uses his super speed to snatch it out of her hand. "Are there batteries in this thing?" he mutters to himself, fumbling with the device. He shrieks when he sees a gas ball coming towards him and moves out of the way. Chenle raises Jisung on a piece of the ground and pushes him towards the woman. The fae shoots a ice at the woman, freezing her in a ice cube. Chenle lowers Jisung onto the ground, allowing him to jump off. They keep an eye on the elemental woman, then get startled at the purple mist bleeding into the ice block. It explodes open, throwing Jisung and Chenle at opposite walls. Bonhwa takes a moment to get her strength back, but not before being tackled by Yuta and Johnny in their wolf forms. </p><p>Meanwhile, Jo Hyungil is busy fighting off the four students in front of him. When he looks over to see what Bonhwa is doing, he sees that the woman is being held down by two adult wolves. He looks up to see Lee Taeyong flying over to Jisung after checking Chenle to see if he was ok. The man grunts in frustration, then uses his telekinesis to hold the four seniors still, then throws them against Mark and Jisung against the wall. He runs up and encases Lee Taeyong in a bubble. He eyes the remote in Mark's hand and puts his hand out. </p><p>"Give the remote, or else I will bleed poisonous gas into the shield to make the spirit explode!" Jo Hyungil exclaims. "Man, what's up with you and threats and holding people hostage, think of something new" Donghyuck whines. Renjun gets up from the ground and faces Jo Hyungil. "Give us the spirit, or face your worst nightmares!" He brings out the potion ball that he stuffed the flower heads and nectar in. Jo Hyungil gives a hearty laugh. "You stupid human! How could you say that! If you release that here, not only I will be affected, but so will all of your friends!" </p><p>Renjun creates a shield around him and the people around him, then he brings Johnny, Yuta, and Chenle over with his own telekinesis and puts a shield around them too. "You know, you aren't the only elemental human in the room right now" he says smugly. The man's eyes widen. Then he starts to laugh. "Of course! Why didn't I realize sooner! Of course you have elemental powers as a human! You've died in the fire that erupted in the forest so long ago!" Renjun furrows his eyebrows. Jaemin clenches his fists. "Why do you look so confused? You didn't know? You died in that forest fire 17 years ago! How else did you think you got those powers!?" The human momentarily raises his eyebrows, then quickly turns back to his original state. He can't think about this, not now at least. "Well then, considering you have elemental powers as well, I assumed you died too" he says. "Why of course! I died because of him!" Jo Hyungil says, pointing his finger at Jaemin. "His parents are both the reason why I died, and why I came back to life!" </p><p>Chenle notices something coming up from the ground from the corner of his eye. He turns and sees Bonhwa coming up from the ground. The woman starts to charge up a large gas ball, presumably to throw at the group like bowling pins. He quickly whips his head and sees Jeno watching the woman as well. They make eye contact and nod. Jeno gets up from the ground. "Say uh, I wanna ask a question mister" he says, hands on hips. Donghyuck looks up at the wolf and whispers a very aggressive "what are you doing?" Jo Hyungil quickly turns his eyes to look at Bonhwa to check on her, then at the wolf. "Go ahead boy" he says. "Hypothetically if you were to actually beat us and kill us after, what are you planning to do?" Jo Hyungil raises an eyebrow. "Now why on Earth would you want to know that?" he asks. "And why on Earth are you stalling?" Mark asks with his teeth clenched. Jisung turns his heads towards the left, and widens his eyes to see the large gas ball Bonhwa was creating. "Oh god" he mumbles. "Well if you're so confident in beating us, you surely have a plan after we're gone right?" Jeno says. Renjun face palms, and looks at Jaemin. The hybrid only shrugs his shoulders, also looking a little annoyed. </p><p>"I know you're trying to distract me boy, stop asking me these things!" the man says. Jeno gives him a eye smile and points a finger at the man. "Ah, but from what though Mr. Jo?" he says. </p><p>"GEGE POP MY HAMSTER BALL!!" Chenle yells in Chinese. </p><p>Everyone turns their head towards the leprechaun and sees Bonhwa ready to attack them with a gigantic gas ball. "NO! ARE YOU CRAZY!?!" Renjun yells back in Chinese. "JUST POP IT!! HURRY!" Chenle yells back. Jeno nods his head, making Renjun groan. "This is stupid" he mutters and lets go of Chenle's bubble. The younger immeaditly stomps on the ground, causing a it to pop up and toss the woman against the wall, finally making her unconscious. Now the problem is solving the case of the gigantic ball of poisonous, and acidic gas coming to hit the floor which can melt it entirely. </p><p>"RENJUN POP THE BUBBLE!!" Donghyuck yells. Renjun lets go of all shields. Donghyuck and Jisung run over to stop the gas ball. Jeno turns into his wolf form and head butts Jo Hyungil in the gut. The man lets go of the shield Lee Taeyong is in. Jaemin runs and catches the black ball. He pops it open, letting Lee Taeyong free. "I got you hyung" he says. </p><p>On the other hand, Jisung and Donghyuck shoot their elemental at the same time. Their ice and water stops the ball from touching the floor. "Jisung! Freeze the water!" Donghyuck yells out, and starts to run around the ball while shooting water at it. Jisung freezes as told, and the gas ball becomes frozen entirely, inside and out. After they're done, they drop it onto the floor, creating a loud "THUMP" as it lands.  </p><p>Jeno and Mark handle Jo Hyungil, while the man shoots gas balls at them. He brings out a spirit gun, and starts to shoot at them. One of the bullets, hits Jeno in the arm. "Jeno!" Mark calls out. He dodges a bullet and tries to carry Jeno to the side where Yuta and Johnny were. The older wolves immeaditly came to his assistance. "Gah!" Jeno calls out in pain. "It's alright Jen, don't worry just breathe" Yuta says. "We gotta get him out of here, his spirit energy is going to go down if we don't get help" Johnny says. Jeno turns over to see where Jo Hyungil is, then yells at Jaemin to move when he spots him.</p><p>"JAEM GET OUT OF THE WAY!!" </p><p>Jaemin turns around and sees the bullet making his way and Lee Taeyong's spirit. Both of them move out of the way. Jo Hyungil puts in more bullets and tries to point the gun at the pair again. "I'm going to get you, BOTH OF YOU!!" He falls to the ground when his ankles get tied by a vine rope. He uses his gas elemental to melt the vine, and gets up. Jo Hyungil throws a few gas balls at Renjun, the latter hitting them all with his vine rope. "Hah! Plants won't help you against my poisonous gas!" he says. Renjun doesn't answer, and keeps hitting the balls away with his vine, not caring that its slowly deteriorating from the acid. He moves to the side, and notices a gas ball creating a hole in the wall behind him. After, Renjun throws a potion at the man. This potion created more vines at his feet. This time, they were stronger, and were able to keep him on the ground. Jo Hyungil switches to his gun and begins shooting at the human, who runs around and sticks the talisman onto his back to make him immovable. </p><p>"Renjun! We need assistance!" Renjun turns and gasps when he sees Jeno on the ground, his arm covered in purple lines. The human runs over and sits next to the wolf. "What happened?" he asks. "He was hit by a spirit bullet, his energy is going down" Jaemin says. "Donghyuck, put water in this capsule" Renjun says, and tosses a potion bottle to the merman. He grows a Moon Cherry Blossom from the floor of the building. It fails though, since it wasn't near moonlight. "Fuck!" he says, and tries again. Jeno shakes his head and weakly waves his hand. "Renjun..it's ok..I can just.." </p><p>"Jeno stop talking, you're going to waste your energy" Jaemin says, cutting him off. Flameio drifts over to circle and looks at Jeno's arm. He looks at Renjun, who was getting frustrated at all of the failed Moon Cherry Blossoms he's trying to grow. "Renjun calm down, just move to the windows, there should be more moonlight there" Yuta says. "The moonlight is being blocked by other buildings in the District" Jisung says. "So he can't gain easy access to it." </p><p>After hearing Jisung's words, Flameio suddenly starts to vibrate aggressively, causing everyone to turn their heads towards him. "What is he doing?" Chenle asks in a worried tone. Jaemin furrows his eyebrows in confusion, then raises them when he gets what's he's doing. "Hyung" he mutters. A orange-red orb comes floating out from Lee Taeyong's chest. Renjun widens his eyes and turns his head towards the spirit. "I was going to make a Moon Cherry Blossom, you didn't have to-" Lee Taeyong stops him by raising his tail. The spirit guides the orb towards the potion ball in Donghyuck's hands and drops it in. The orb sinks into the water, the color changing to orange-red, then a light blue afterwards. "What just happened?" Mark asks. </p><p>"He gave part of his spirit essence to make a spirit potion" Jaemin says. Lee Taeyong floats back up to his original spot, then nods towards the potion for Jeno to take it. "Thank you" Jeno croaks out with a smile. The spirit nods again as his response. </p><p>Then gets hit by a spirit bullet. </p><p>Jo Hyungil had managed to use his elemental to melt down the vines that were holding him down and the talisman on his back. The spirit, was laying on the floor, pale in color. He didn't get shot at the core, but it was close enough to make him immovable. The team immediately gets up, Mark and Yuta staying down to support Jeno. Jo Hyungil, points the gun towards Jaemin and shakes it. "You're next" he says, then pulls the trigger. The spirit bullet flies straight to Jaemin, but misses and hits the wall behind him instead.</p><p>Johnny tackles the man as a wolf before he gets to shoot again. Chenle raises the floor to make walls around the man, and creates a box by putting a slab of the floor on the top. Renjun, Jaemin,  Donghyuck, and Jisung meanwhile, rush over to Lee Taeyong. Renjun carefully picks up the spirit, and checks his condition. "He's not doing so well, we need to get out of here fast." Sounds erupting from the box, makes their heads turns towards it. It looks like Jo Hyungil is trying to melt the box down with his elemental. "Quickly! Let's go!" Jaemin exclaims. Mark helps Jeno climb onto Yuta's back, then runs over with them to the doors. Jisung was about to unfreeze them, but was beaten to it by a fire spirit who not only melted the ice down, but blew down the doors with a large fire ball. </p><p>"What happened to our back up?" Johnny asks through the earpiece. There was no response on the other line. "Hello? Earth to Yoonoh? You there? Hello!?" No one answers Johnny's call. The team doesn't have enough time to worry about it though, as the fire spirit throws another fire ball at them. Other spirits, about 15 of them sworn into the room right after. Chenle runs off with Yuta and Jeno to the corner of the room. The leprechaun pulls up walls from the ground to make a protective wall. Yuta lays Jeno down. He looks worryingly at the lines on Jeno's arm that were getting bigger by the minute. A earth spirit comes in front of the little hut and attempts to bring the walls down. Chenle gasps and fights it by keeping it up with his own elemental. The two engage in a battle of tug of war, whoever lets go, loses. </p><p>From the outside, Jisung notices the earth spirit trying to bring the wall of Chenle's hut down. He eyes the light blue spirit ball on the ground and runs to grab it. He gets pushed back though, when a fire spirit starts to throw fire balls at him. The fae defends himself by blocking with his elemental, then eventually going on the offensive side and shooting ice at it. The spirit gets frozen in a ice block and falls to the ground, allowing Jisung to grab the ball and run to the earth spirit. The earth spirit, hears Jisung's footsteps and raises the walls from the ground to block him. Jisung goes to the other side, but gets blocked off again. He and the earth spirit start to play in a game of cat and mouse until the spirit ultimately traps the boy in his own earth box. "CHENLE! OPEN UP!!" he yells out and throws the spirit ball from the inside before the box closes completely. Chenle lets the wall down, and barely catches the light blue sphere. The earth spirit notices the wall was down and drops Jisung's box to get to Chenle's. "Gah!" Chenle exclaims. He immediately raises the wall again, just in time before the spirit could get in. Jisung freezes it before it can do anything else. </p><p>"Chenle no..give it to Lee Taeyong.." Jeno says weakly. "Lee Taeyong wanted you to have this, so its better to take it then leave it" Yuta says, patting the sweat from Jeno's forehead. "Yeah, plus it's only one spirit essence. He's going to need more then this to get moving" Chenle adds after. He pops open the bottle while Yuta props Jeno up. "Open your mouth hyung." Jeno doesn't do it, but after seeing the look of desperation on Chenle's face, he reluctantly does. Yuta sighs with frustration and opens it a little more. "Its not gonna kill Taeyong don't worry, he's going to be just fine" the older wolf says. Chenle pours the spirit essence into Jeno's mouth. Once it's all gone, the younger wolf swallows it and sighs. "Let's stay here until he's gets better. It shouldn't take long until he does" Chenle suggests. Yuta nods, and gestures Chenle to keep look out. </p><p>While it was a bit peaceful inside the hut, it wasn't quite like that outside. A earth spirit had let down the box Jo Hyungil was trapped in. He immeaditly tries to shoot a spirit bullet at Donghyuck, who was busy fighting a ice spirit, but gets tackled back down by Johnny. The wolf rips the gun out of Jo Hyungil's hand and crushes it right in front of him. "Why you mutt!" Jo Hyungil exclaims, and tries to blast him with a gas ball. Johnny jumps off and runs off, the older man following him. </p><p>Donghyuck and that ice spirit in the meanwhile, were fighting each other intensely. When noticing his comrade was losing in the battle, a wind spirit immeaditly helps the ice spirit and tries to get the merman caught in a tornado. "Oh come on!" Donghyuck groans. He grabs hold of the wall as the tornado was getting closer and closer to him. Then, it sucks him up, and allows the ice spirit shoot icicles at the merman while he's inside. </p><p>A lightning spirit fights with Mark, and shoots bolts at him as he uses his agility to dodge them. He can't exactly fight against the spirit, but he can lead it into the gigantic tornado he sees from the corner of his eye. Without realizing that Donghyuck was in there, Mark distracts the spirit and leads it to the tornado the wind spirit was making in the corner in the front of the room. He successfully makes it go in, but realizes it too late that Donghyuck was in there as well when he hears his scream. "Fuck" he says, and gets pushed in as well by a ice spirit. Jisung and Johnny get pushed to the tornado too when they get ambushed by a bunch of spirits at once, and fall into the spiral of wind behind them. The earth spirit Jisung froze earlier, is freed by another ice spirit. It breaks down Chenle's hut and lets the wind spirit take him, Yuta, and Jeno into the tornado.</p><p>The only ones that were left fighting were Renjun and Jaemin who were working together to fight off the other spirits and keep Lee Taeyong safe. "There's too many, what do we do?" Renjun asks. Jaemin shakes his head. "I-I don't know, we shouldn't hurt them, but that's the only way we can reduce their size." A lightning spirit shoots a bolt of lightning at the pair, making them split. Renjun runs to the back of the room with Lee Taeyong in his hands. A ice spirit and a fire spirit follows him to the back of the room while shooting ice and fire at the human. Sooner or later, the ice spirit flies ahead of Renjun and creates a ice slab on the floor. Renjun, not noticing the slab, trips over it and falls onto the ground. The trip made him lose Lee Taeyong from his arms, the spirit being picked up by the other ghosts by their tails. "NO!" Renjun shouts. He tries to get up, but gets dragged by a stream of water by a water spirit at his ankle to the front of the room. </p><p>Jaemin would soon join Renjun when he gets shot by a bolt in the chest, and gets blown off to the right by a another wind spirit. The impact sends Jaemin tumbling towards Renjun to the opposite wall, to a giant hole Jo Hyungil created when he had thrown the gas ball at Renjun. Jaemin crashes into Renjun, causing the human to fall through the hole in the wall. Jaemin grabs onto his hand before he hits the ground, but himself had fallen out and is now hanging onto the edge with one arm. </p><p>"Renjun!" Jaemin calls out.</p><p>"Jaemin!" Renjun calls back. </p><p>Renjun can feel Jaemin's strength slowly getting weaker by the way his hand struggles to hold his. They turn their head up at the edge when they hear a laugh coming towards them. "Na Jaemin" Jo Hyungil says, coming up to the couple. He has Lee Taeyong's dying spirit in a black bubble in one hand, and the other behind his back. "You and your family has harassed me and humiliated mine for generations! Now it is time for me to pay! It is time to finally kill the last living Na!" Jo Hyungil steps on Jaemin's hand. Jaemin lets out a scream of pain. "You're a crazy old man who will never get what he wants! Remember that!" Renjun shouts at the man. Jo Hyungil whips his head down at Renjun. He gives a creepy smile towards the human and another screeching laugh. "But I will get what I want! I am getting what I want now! I am finally getting rid of Na Jaemin once and for all! You and Lee Taeyong are just a bonus!" Renjun uses his free hand to search for his vine rope, but panics when its missing. "Oh, are you looking for your little toy? Forget about it! My spirits has taken it while you where down and BURNED IT! JUST LIKE HOW THEY BURNED YOUR BODY!" </p><p>"SHUT UP!" </p><p>The man looks at Jaemin. "SHUT UP! JUST SHUT IT!" Jaemin shouts at the man. Jo Hyungil tsks and pops his bubble, letting Lee Taeyong flop onto his hand. "I don't think you're in the position to say that anymore, Na Jaemin." Renjun widens his eyes in terror when he sees Jo Hyungil throw Lee Taeyong's form off of the edge. "NO!" he shouts. Jo Hyungil lets go of Jaemin's hand, causing Jaemin and Renjun to fall as well. Renjun manages to bubble Lee Taeyong in his own shield and catch him, but realizes too late that he's falling. Jaemin grabs Renjun's waist in mid air, and hugs the other close to him. Renjun squeezes his eyes close and buries his head in the crook of Jaemin's neck one last time before they hit the ground. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>At that instant, a hand reaches out. </p><p>It reaches out towards Jaemin's and catches it. </p><p>Jaemin and Renjun opens their eyes and share a confused glance. They look up at the edge and smile when they see Doyoung's head poking out. "Hyung!" Jaemin calls out. Taeil comes out as well and holds his hand out for Renjun's. The human shifts the bubble to his other hand and stretches up to the dragon. They both grab the boys and pulls them up. "Oh my stars are you two ok?!" Doyoung says, hugging Jaemin immeaditly. "What are all these bruises? And what's that on your chest?" the ghost questions. He turns and gives Renjun a hug too. Before he could nag the human though, Renjun pushes the bubble Lee Taeyong was in towards him. "Please, take him. It's Lee Taeyong. He got shot by a spirit bullet and now he's very hurt." Doyoung widens his eyes and takes the bubble. He looks at Taeil who looks at Renjun. "We came here from the police station as soon as we saw the army of spirits." Jaemin looks up and sees the rest of the crew fighting off a oncoming hoard of spirits and agents into the room. "Thank you hyung, please take Lee Taeyong to safety!" Renjun begs. </p><p>"But what about-" </p><p>"Hyung please" Doyoung turns to Jaemin. The hybrid puts a hand on Doyoung's arm. "Please, save Taeyong hyung, the others are here so we'll be fine." The ghost opens his mouth then closes it. He sighs and gives a sad smile to the hybrid. "Are you sure you'll be fine?" he asks. Jaemin gives him a nod. Doyoung gives him another hug. "Be safe, please." </p><p>"We will, thank you hyung, for being there for us." Doyoung lets go and fixes Jaemin's hair. He turns to Renjun. "Please be careful ok?" Renjun nods and bows. "Thank you, for saving us." Doyoung nods, then gives a look towards Taeil. "Alright, kick their asses will ya? Kun!" Taeil calls out. The wizard takes down three agents and turns his head. "Let's go! We got a fire spirit to save!" Kun widen his eyes and nods. He waves towards Renjun and Jaemin and beckons Doyoung and Taeil to come follow. "Stay safe!" Doyoung calls out, and runs with the dragon. </p><p>When they're gone, Jaemin helps Renjun up from the ground and looks for Jo Hyungil. He spots him fighting off Yoonoh in the back with a couple of spirits with him. Renjun looks up and screams at the gigantic tornado snuggled in the corner, with a ice spirit launching ice spikes into it. "That's where the others are, we gotta get them!" he says. Jaemin nods, and grabs his hand. They both run together towards the tornado and leap into it. </p><p>.</p><p>"Renjun hyung! Jaemin hyung!" Chenle exclaims when he sees Renjun and Jaemin enter the tornado. </p><p>"Just in time! Help us do that thing we did a long time ago" Donghyuck yells. Renjun raises an eybrow. "What thing?" he asks. "The time when we exploded the tornado from the inside! Remember the first time we saw a elemental spirit?!" Mark yells. "We needed a shield, so lucky you came in!" Jeno yells after. Jaemin looks to where Jeno's voice came from and smiles. "Jeno! You're ok!" </p><p>"And you're ok!" </p><p>"We're all ok, now let's hurry before this lighting and ice spirit kills us!" Donghyuck yells. "What lightning spirit?" Renjun asks. Right on cue, a lighting bolt hurls towards Renjun and a ice spike almost hits Jaemin in the shin. "Alright I'm in!" Jaemin yells back. </p><p>Jisung spots the lightning spirit that's flying around with the team, and shoots it. It becomes frozen in a block and joins the others in helplessly swirling around. "That's our timer folks!" Yuta yells out. Chenle lifts his hands up to make a podium from the ground while Jisung uses his ice powers as a booster rocket to get Renjun. Once the podium is made, Jisung uses his icy rocket boosters to push them towards it. Renjun throws a potion once they land to grow vines to keep them in place, then brings up his shield. "Ok! To add some spice I'm gonna shoot water from the tornado!" Donghyuck yells. The team gives them a thumbs up. Jisung and Donghyuck share a nod. The merman sticks his hand out, but then retracts it immeaditly when a ice spike comes through. "Chenle! Give us some rocks! Long ones!" Jeno yells. Chenle summons pole like pieces from the floor and distributes them. Jaemin spots a ice spike and hits it with his pole like a baseball, making it shatter upon impact. Donghyuck gives another thumbs up towards Jisung and Renjun and sticks his hand out to start shoot out the water. </p><p>"Ready hyung?" Jisung asks. "Ready as I'll ever be" Renjun answers. Both of them stick their hands out and start to expand Renjun's shield together. It's the same process they had done last time, except they're both now much stronger then they were in the past. The lilac colored bubble starts to grow at a rapid pace, much faster then the last time they have done this. Sooner or later, the bubble makes it to the ends of the tornado and is able to blow it out. Jo Hyungil turns to the sound and looks in horror to see the whole team jump down from the air. Thanks to Donghyuck's water stream, most of the fire and lightning spirits were down and weak on the floor. </p><p>"NO!" Jo Hyungil screams. The whole team turns. "You're supposed to be dead! Why are you alive!? Why! Why! WHY! WHY!" Jaemin tilts his head and shrugs. "Cause, you're stupid?" His friends snicker and giggle behind him. Jo Hyungil on the other hand, was far from laughing, he was pissed. The hands of the man start to glow in a dark purple cloud, his eyes matching the colors of his hands. "YOU WILL PAY THE PRICE!" he shouts and shoots a line of poisonous gas towards the group. Renjun pushes his way through the crowd and puts up a shield to block it. Then, he starts to expand it, pushing the beam of gas towards the man instead of them. The more the shield goes out, the more Jo Hyungil gets pushed back. Though, the man wasn't ready to give up and pushes forward, making it hard for Renjun to push out. </p><p>Jaemin goes to the front of the shield and tries to to push it forward. Jo Hyungpil was still stronger though, and was pushing the group back. Donghyuck and Jisung join from behind, raising their hands and using their elementals to push the shield like how Jisung had done in the tornado. Jeno joins Jaemin in the front on the other side and pushes it forward with him. Johnny and Yuta push from the sides, and Chenle works from the middle to make the shield taller. Renjun looks around him and smiles. His smile becomes brighter when he sees Gunhang, Dejun, and Yukhei sneak behind Jo Hyunpil. They grab him and start to pull him back, allowing the shield to push the gas beam towards the man. </p><p>"NO! NO! LET GO OF ME! LET GO!!!" </p><p>Jo Hyungpil lets go of the poisonous gas beam, letting go of the force that was stopping the shield from growing. The purple bubble explodes and disrupts the whole room. Everything in the room, including spirits, people, and furniture flies towards the back while a large booming sound fills their ears. When the effect settles, Renjun slowly gets up from the floor, a ringing sound in his ears. He sees Jaemin and his friends get up from one side and his hyungs on the other. In front of him, was Jo Hyungpil, who already got up on his feet. Renjun gasps, and rolls to the side from a incoming gas ball. He gets up and puts the last two remaining talismen on the mans pack. He throws his last potion onto the ground to hold the man in place and grows the vines from the ground to tie around his torso. "Let go of me you human!!" Jo Hyungil spits out (despite being a human himself). Renjun's friends and hyungs watch as his hands start to glow in a greenish color as he's growing the vines. His eyes turn bright green, with hints of purple in them. When he's finished, the green glow goes away. Jo Hyungil was entrapped in the strongest vines Renjun had ever created.</p><p>"Ugh" Renjun groans. He starts wavering. Jaemin runs over and catches Renjun before he hits the floor. "I got you Renjun, don't worry" he says in a gentle tone. Yoonoh steps over some unconscious agents and spirits and comes up to the  man. "Jo Hyungil, you are under arrest for being associated with the DokZuZhi, Neo City's largest crime organization. You have the right to remain silent, and the right to call in a lawyer or attorney at trial." </p><p>"No! You don't understand! I'm not the bad guy here! He is! He's the one who's killed my family! He's the one who's put them to shame! Arrest him! ARREST NA JAEMIN!!" Renjun tilts his head. There was a look of genuine fear and frustration on this guy's face. It seems this man is fueled by something..and Renjun may know what it is. </p><p>"Mr. Jo" Jo Hyungil whips his head towards the human. "What!? What do you want from me?!" He spits at Renjun, making him step back. "Mr. Jo, I know how you're feeling, but- " </p><p>"How, how on EARTH would YOU know how I am possibly feeling!?" he shouts. Renjun bites his lip, then starts speaking again. "Sure, I don't know how exactly you are feeling, but I know what you're feeling generally." </p><p>"And what is that!?" </p><p>"Traumatized" </p><p>Jo Hyungil stops wriggling. "You know it too. I too went through some trauma. Granted, I never really knew it was a trauma, but it still affected most of my life. You literally made me go through it in a room by myself." Jaemin turns his head towards Renjun, but the human puts his hand up. "It..took me a while to get through it, but I did." Jo Hyungpil scoffs. "You being afraid of fire is nothing compared to what I have experienced" the man mumbles. "No it may have not, but I get that feeling of, not being able to get out from your headspace, like you feel trapped, and..weak." The man doesn't bother to look at the younger, but Renjun continues anyways. "There's people on this Earth who will support you and help you as much as you can surely there must be someone in your heart who has supported you once in your lifetime, at least one!" Jo Hyungpil doesn't answer. Renjun sighs. "Just..my advice to you is that..when you're feeling weak and hopeless..think of that one person, the person you know loves you and cares for you. Then, you'll feel better, stronger, and determined to feel alive once again." </p><p>Renjun looks up at Yoonoh and nods. "I'm done hyung, sorry I just wanted to say that to him" he says. Yoonoh smiles and nods. "No, those are good words. Plenty of our prisoners have gone through trauma somehow. That's why, we're gonna get Mr. Jo a great therapist, so he doesn't feel alone anymore." Renjun returns the smile and nods. </p><p>The rest of Neo City's police force had came to detain all of the agents and spirits, along with Jo Hyungpil and Bonhwa. The group walks out of the building behind the stage platform and watches Jo Hyungpil climb into the police car. He looks up and glares at Jaemin, who glares at him back, The glare softens though, when he looks at Renjun. He nods his head, and Renjun nods back. "What the heck? Did you just become allies with the dude we just fought?" Donghyuck asks. "I wouldn't say allies, someone just gotten the empathy he needed from another person for a looong time" Johnny says. </p><p>Yuta groans and stretches his arms. "Good work gang! Remind me and Johnny to take you guys out for food." Johnny snaps his fingers. "Oh yeah! We should treat you guys for the hard work you guys did today! What do you guys want?" </p><p>"Pork belly!" </p><p>"Eels!" </p><p>"Chicken!" </p><p>"Hot pot!" </p><p>"A whole ass feast!" </p><p>Yoonoh chuckles and looks at his phone. "You guys should go home, it's late." Renjun and his friends look at each other and nod. They get together and bow towards their hyungs. </p><p>"Thank you for your support!" </p><p>"What are you guys elementary kids? Just go home" Yuta waves off. The boys laugh and walk on over back to the dorms. They wave towards their hyungs, saying their thank yous and good byes. "Byeee! Make sure to eat!" Jungwoo yells. "Yeah! I'll tell Kun ge that you guys did great today!" Dejun yells after. </p><p>The group yells their last good byes, then start walking back to the bus station to collide with their sweet, and comfortable beds. </p><p>.</p><p>A month and a fall break later, Taeyong was ready to be revived. </p><p>Now Doyoung's panicking. </p><p>"Ok hyung big breaths, take deeeeep breaths" Jaemin says, trying to calm his hyung down. The doctor takes big and exaggerated breaths and exhales them out. "Ok, you don't have to take them in like that." A knock on the door is heard. "C-come in!" Doyoung says. The door opens and lets Donghyuck and Jeno poke their head through the doorway. "Jaem, help us turn the machine on, Donghyuck forgot!" Doyoung puts his hands down from his mouth and raises his eyebrow. "What you forgot?" he asks. "In my defense you never taught me since you were busy trashing your office." Donghyuck says, pointing to the doctor. The room goes silent. "Sorry hyung, too soon, too soon." Jaemin shakes his head and turns towards Doyoung. "Hyung, let Renjun comfort you. Renjun, please for the love of god calm him down." Renjun laughs and gives his boyfriend a thumbs up. The hybrid smiles at the human and goes with Donghyuck and Jeno to the revival room. </p><p>"Welcome Kim Doyoung to Dr. Huang's therapy session! Take a seat!" Renjun says, patting the chair next to him. Doyoung quickly rushes over to the chair and sits down. "Now what seems to be the problem patient?" Renjun asks. The doctor gives him a small smile and sighs. "Well, my soulmate is finally going to be revived after being dead for 17 years, and I'm kind of nervous." Renjun tilts his head. "How so?" he asks. "Well, first off I never saw him after he died, and, we only spent a month together. Even when we first met, he didn't even recognize me, *gasp* what if he doesn't recognize me when he revives! Oh no, this is going to be terrible, oh god I-" </p><p>Renjun takes Doyoung's hand and pats it. "Hyung, over the past month he's been gaining his memory back. Now he remembers everything especially you. You know, anytime you were gone, hyung kept looking for you, and was wondering where you were." Doyoung looks up, with raised eyebrows. "R-really?" he asks. This was surreal. Not because Renjun is finally going to see Flameio be revived, but because he's never seen Doyoung so vulnerable before. The doctor is always so poker faced and sarcastic, so it's hard to see him look this...</p><p>Fragile?</p><p>"Yes, really" Renjun says. Doyoung sighs and lets go of Renjun's hand. "Right before he died, Taeyong and I had just gotten together. It was the last year of high school, and we were going to go to Dongguk University together. We knew we were soulmates thanks to Taeil hyung, and we were excited to stay together." He pauses. "But...then he died, and I never go to see him again." The room succumbs to the humming of the AC and the buzzing of the lights on the ceiling. Renjun looks at his hyung, and smiles. "But now you get to see him again, and trust me when you finally get to be with him, it's going to feel...wonderful." Doyoung tilts his head like a innocent rabbit. "Really?" he whispers. Renjun nods. "Trust me hyung, I know from experience." </p><p>.</p><p>How revival works at the Neo City's Hospital's Spirit Lab is simple. </p><p>First, after training and going through activities to gain its memories back, the spirit is inputted into a large capsule that are connected to three containers. These containers, are usually filled with items that the spirit finds dear to them and to their past. Usually things that they carried around with them while they're still, well a spirit. </p><p>For Taeyong, his items were a jean jacket, a friendship ring, and a bear key chain. </p><p>When the items are inputted into the containers, panel on the other side of the containers is used to put in the spirit's information such as name, birthday, birth place, height, and elemental. </p><p>
  <i>Lee Taeyong</i>
</p><p><i>July 1st, 1995</i> </p><p><i>Seoul, South Korea</i> </p><p>
  <i>174cm (5'9")</i>
</p><p><i>Fire</i> </p><p>Then, a button is pressed to activate the machine. </p><p>"You ready hyung?" Donghyuck asks. Doyoung takes a deep breath and calms himself down. He shares glances with Taeyong in his fire spirit form one last time and smiles. "If hyung is." The fire nods, bobbing its head up and down. Renjun giggles and nods towards the button. "Aright!" Donghyuck announces. "Lee "Flameio" Taeyong, get ready!" </p><p>After the button is pressed, the spirit's essence will start to form into the orbs, its original form. Then, the memories that the items that they held will come through the tubs and into the capsule and start to mix with the orbs. Taeyong's memories start to mix with the red-orange orbs that filled the capsule. A bright red light shined through, and after a minute or so, the revival process is finished. </p><p>The boys and Doyoung give time for Taeyong to put on his hospital gown behind the curtains that covered the doors of the capsule. Then, when he's ready, the curtains draw back. </p><p>Doyoung immeaditly starts to break into tears. </p><p>Out came a average sized man with bright red hair with flames coming out of it. He has big eyes, and his face was shaped as a small circle. A kind smile grew on his face when he sees Doyoung. He steps out of the capsule and runs over to the ghost and gives him a gigantic hug. "Shh, it's ok, I'm here" he croaks out, not used to using his voice. Doyoung doesn't answer and sobs into his shoulder. He takes his face out and smiles. "I missed you hyung.. I really did." Taeyong nods and wipes the tears off of Doyoung's face. "I know, I did too." Taeyong turns and sees the boys standing on the side. He notices the tears forming in Jaemin eyes and chuckles. "Come here Jaem" he says, opening his arm. Jaemin widens his eyes and runs over to his hyungs and hugs them. "Hyung, where were you all this time!" he says. Taeyong smiles and combs through his hair. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry for being gone so long." </p><p>After the three have finished their hugs, they turn to the boys. Jaemin widens his eyes and quickly wipes his tears off of his face and runs to joins the team. Then, they all bow towards Doyoung and Taeyong, and say at the same time; </p><p>"Thank you for your cooperation!" </p><p>"I should thank you guys for reviving me again" Taeyong says with a laugh. He looks at Renjun, who looks at him back, surprised. "Thank you Renjun. Thank you for helping me all this time, we should work with together in the future." Renjun laughs and nods. "No, thank you Taeyong hyung, for helping me during my hard times. Let's do work together when the time comes." Doyoung laughs, and wipes some of the tears from the corner of his eyes. "Woahh, I never seen hyung cry before!" Donghyuck exclaims. The group shares a laugh as Doyoung playfully tells him to shut up. "Come on, we should admit you to a hospital bed to give you more strength." Taeyong gives Doyoung a head tilt. "I'm already feeling strong though?" he says. </p><p>"You sound like you haven't used your voice since the last century, come on, I'll help you" Doyoung replies. Taeyong laughs and puts his arm around Doyoung's shoulder. The boys follow them out of the room, talking excitedly to each other about different things.</p><p>Following them from the back were Renjun and Jaemin. They didn't really do much, but hold hands and squeeze them. Just a little reminder, that if Taeyong is able to come back to Doyoung after 17 years, they'll come back to each other and stay with each other as long as they can, no matter the odds. </p><p>They'll be here.</p><p>They'll be right here. </p><p> </p><p>But how long can they keep reminding themselves that?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Lee Taeyong is revived :)) </p><p>Thank you guys so much for reading! Once again, I appreciate the time you put in to read this story, even when y'all have other things to do.</p><p>But! This story is not over yet! We still much left, so hold on tight cause it's going to be a ride! </p><p>Thank you guys once again!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0038"><h2>38. 23. Donghyuck's and Jeno's Quest to Find Renjun's Cold Medicine!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Renjun gets sick, so Donghyuck and Jeno go into the human world to find medicine.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hellu!~ </p><p>Thanks for coming back to read this story! Today's chapter is just going to be a little filler, so it's going to be a light hearted one </p><p>Or is it? </p><p>Nah it is</p><p>Well that's up to you to decide hehe </p><p>Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Renjun is sick.</p><p>He has a cold. He assumes that he probably caught it from the stress of college and spirit reviving, so the human doesn't worry about it that much. </p><p>Though, that doesn't stop Jaemin from worrying about it. </p><p>Currently, the hybrid is pacing back in forth with one hand on his hip and the other holding his phone up to his ear. Pangxie keeps putting shells around Renjun's bed while the latter is laying under two blankets with a wet towel on his forehead. It's a cold, but the fatigue is keeping him still. Which is good I guess, you should be resting if you're sick not..I don't know, playing tennis. </p><p>I'm looking at you tennis players. </p><p>"Finally you answered!" Jaemin suddenly announces after a while. A bit of silence passes by. "Ah sorry hyung, I forgot about your shifts." </p><p>How can you forget that the person you're calling is a doctor when you called them for their medical skills? Jaemin literally called Doyoung to have him come over to check on Renjun. Maybe he should tuck Jaemin into bed. </p><p>"Ok thank you hyung, what do I pay you with? No, I want to pay you I feel bad for taking you away from the hospital. Oh really? What do I pay him? Alright, a bag of bread popcorn it is for the both of you. No take backs! Thank you hyung!" </p><p>It's weird not hearing the other side of a call. It sounds like the person is talking by themselves. </p><p>Oh.</p><p>Renjun feels a cough coming out. </p><p>Jaemin turns around to the sound of a small cough. He puts his phone in his pocket and steps over the shells Pangxie had laid out to kneel down. The hybrid puts a hand on Renjun's forehead and sighs. "Sorry Injun, I don't know that much about human colds, so I had to call Doyoung hyung in. He can't make it because of a surgery coming up, but he sent Taeyong hyung! Taeyong hyung used to be a human, so he should know what to do." Renjun manages to shimmy his hand out of the mountain of blankets weighing on top of him and lightly pats Jaemin's hand. He coughs another time and holds on to his finger. "Don't worry I'm here. I'll wait here until hyung comes." </p><p>15 minutes passes by until the pair hears a knock at the door. Jaemin gently puts Renjun's hand underneath the blankets and gets up to open the door. He comes back with a worried Taeyong who walks up to the bed. "Be careful of the shells hyung!" Jaemin warns. Taeyong stops on his toes as he notices the seashells laid around the bed. "Sorry Pangxie" Taeyong says towards the tank next to Renjun's desk. The crab only stares at the spirit, making sure he doesn't smash any of her shells.</p><p>Because of he does, it's pinchy time. </p><p>Taeyong gets the message and gulps. </p><p>"How are you doing Renjun?" he asks. He watches something wiggle through the blankets, then sees a small hand poke out with a OK gesture. Taeyong nods, and takes out a thermometer. "Jaemin I'm gonna take this towel off of him to take a temperature ok?" Jaemin nods and rushes over to take it off. The spirit runs the thermometer across Renjun's forehead and gets a reading. "So, how is he?" Jaemin asks. "He doesn't have a high temperature, so it's just a normal cold. Humans can get better from it by just taking medicine and resting, so he'll be fine." Jaemin sighs a breath of relief. "I suggest going into the human world to get some medicine. The medicines here will be too strong for him. Oh! And make him something to eat before he takes it, or else he'll get a upset stomach." </p><p>Jaemin takes time to repeat what Taeyong had just said, then looks up. "Thank you so much hyung, I'll make sure to get you that bread popcorn right away." Taeyong chuckles and ruffles Jaemin's hair. "Make sure Renjun gets better first ok?" He turns to Renjun and waves a good bye, not missing the human's little hand waving back. Taeyong giggles and waves a good bye towards Pangxie before turning to Jaemin. "I gotta help Chenle and Jisung with communicating with some spirits, but if you need any help just call ok?" </p><p>"I will, thank you hyung" Jaemin replies. He leads Taeyong out the door and says his good byes. When he walks back into Renjun's room he takes a pause. "Wait, if I go to Seoul to get your medicine, who's going to take care of you?" Renjun wanted to say he can sleep while he waits for him to come back, but all that came out was a meek cough.</p><p>"I know! I'll get reinforcements!"</p><p>Renjun doesn't know who these reinforcements are, and he feels like he should be scared.</p><p>Minutes later, Jeno and Donghyuck walk into Renjun's room.</p><p>Ok yeah, he's scared.</p><p>"OH MY POOR BABY" Donghyuck shouts. He steps over the line of shells and pokes Renjun's cheek. "ARE YOU OK SIR!?" he asks. Renjun turns his head towards the merman and just responds with a cough. "Donghyuck don't shout! I need you guys to do me a favor" Jaemin says. "What do you want us to do?" Jeno asks. Jaemin walks over to Renjun's desk and grabs a pen and a piece of paper. "I need you guys to go into Seoul and buy this particular cold medicine. I gotta stay here and make sure Renjun is resting and eating well." He hands the paper over to Jeno. The wolf takes it and reads the name of the medicine out loud. "COLD GO AWAY" is what the name is. Donghyuck turns around. 'Wow, very creative." </p><p>Meanwhile, Jaemin is counting some won bills from his wallet. "Here this should be enough" he says and stuffs the money into Jeno's hand. "Use this to get the medicine." Jeno counts the money and nods. "I'm sure we can buy some vitamins for him too" Jeno says. He looks at the human on the bed. "Rest well Renjun! We'll get you the medicine!"   "Yeah! You can trust us!" Donghyuck says after. </p><p>Renjun trusts them. They should be able to get back to Neo City in one piece. </p><p>Right?</p><p>.</p><p>Let me explain the details of medicine in Neo City, versus medicine in Seoul.</p><p>In Seoul, and the rest of world, medicine is usually bought from pharmacies, something a normal human being will not bat a eye at. </p><p>In Neo City, medicine is much more complicated then that.</p><p>You see, each species have their own immunity systems. You can't just get pills that were made for a fae for a werewolf, no that will not be enough because faes have a smaller immunity system then werewolves.</p><p>Don't get me even started on ghosts, elemental spirits, gumihos, and other mythical creatures. Those guys are a headache. </p><p>They need special medicine, made from the spirit essence of..something I don't know, anything with a soul. </p><p>The point is, Donghyuck and Jeno aren't used to going to just one store to grab medicine.</p><p>They also, do not know WHERE to grab the medicine because Jaemin never told them where (He had assumed they would just go to a pharmacy, as if they grew up in the human world). </p><p>So where's the first location they go to? A shopping mall. </p><p>Now sure, sometimes malls have drug stores or 24/7 stores somewhere hidden within the building, but this one doesn't, and what do you do when you can't find a specific store? You ask the information desk. </p><p>Like a normal being.</p><p>"Hi! We're looking for a store for human drugs" Jeno says to the lady at the desk innocently. </p><p>Oh, the look on this poor woman's face. </p><p>Donghyuck slowly turns to Jeno with a pointed expression, then quickly whips it back to face the lady. "Ah ha, he means medicine store. We're not druggies no, no, no, we don't smoke weed" is what he says and believes to be a better response. The lady doesn't reply and only stare at the boys in front of her. She eyes the telephone next to her on the counter and considers on whether or not to call the police, but decides to only laugh nervously, not wanting to be involved in some sort of dangerous drug deal. </p><p>(She would have the mall security check the place for any after the boys left)</p><p>"Um, no sorry we don't have any pharmacies here. But, I can direct you to the nearest one. It's on the street a block away." Donghyuck snatches the paper Jaemin gave Jeno from the wolf and slaps it onto the counter. "Great! Can you write the directions here?" </p><p>"And not call the police on us?" he thinks. </p><p>The lady takes out a pen and writes down the directions and gives the paper back to the merman. He and Jeno thank her and quickly shuffle out of the shopping mall, praying that some security guard that was listening to their conversation doesn't catch them and throw them in mall jail. </p><p>Mall jails are a thing right? I don't know, I've never been, I'm a law abiding citizen. </p><p>"Why on Earth would you phrase the question like that?" Donghyuck asks Jeno once they were on the street. "What, isn't that what we're looking for?" Jeno asks. Donghyuck face palms and groans. "Yes, but usually, people don't use "human drugs" to search for cold medicine. Just say medicine! Look how unsketchy that sounds!" Jeno raises an eyebrow. "I don't think you should be yelling at me for phrasing a question weirdly when your vocabulary just as bad." The merman drops his arms to the side and glares at the wolf. </p><p>"Oh shut up" </p><p>"I'm just saying, 'unsketchy' isn't a word." </p><p>Without realizing, the two would continue to bicker until they're in a unknown neighborhood. Jeno looks down at the paper, and looks around. There were a couple of houses and a soup restaurant, but nothing resembling a pharmacy. "Great, we're lost. Did she write the address on the paper? We could try use Google Maps to get back" Donghyuck says. Jeno shakes his head. "Nope." He looks up and sees a elderly lady walking down the street towards them. "Excuse me!" Jeno calls out. The lady looks at the boys and walks up to them. "Hi, we're new here and we're lost. May I ask you where we are?" </p><p>"Why, you're in Ulsan" the lady replies with a thick satoori accent. </p><p>"ULSAN!?!" </p><p>"Ah you scared me! Yes, yes Ulsan!" Jeno and Donghyuck share glances. That doesn't make sense, they were just in Seoul a couple of minutes ago. How the heck did they go all the way down to Ulsan? Jeno looks around and spots a window of a small store next to him. He narrows his eyes into the glass and notices Neo City on the other side. It then dawns on him that he and Donghyuck, may had unconsciously walked through the windows from Seoul, and walked back and forth between Neo City and the human world till they got where they are now. His middle and high school teachers had repeatedly warned Jeno and his classmates that this could happen. He didn't think it would be possible, but guess who's the dumbass now. </p><p>"Ah ha..thank you..ma'am" Jeno says, eye smile on his face, panic ridden throughout his whole body. "No problem, oh by the way, where are you boys from?" the lady asks. Donghyuck and Jeno share another glance. "Uh..Jeju Island" Donghyuck replies. The lady stares at the boys for a while, then tilts her head to the side. "Really? Huh, you boys seem like city people to me." </p><p>Ah, he could've just said Seoul. </p><p>"Well it was nice to meet you! Hope that helped!" the lady says and walks off. The boys thank her and figure out what they should do. "Can't we just use the windows to go back to where we need to go?" Donghyuck asks. "No, we can't do that. A) The City Council will KILL us for using the windows multiple times, and B) we don't know which window will lead us back to Seoul" Jeno says. Donghyuck takes a look around. "Well, what do we do? We don't have enough money to take a train, and the bus is gonna take forever to get back." Jeno looks down at the paper in his hand and stuffs it into his pocket. "Let's just get the medicine for now, and think about how to get back later." </p><p>.</p><p>Back in Neo City, Jaemin looks through his mother's old recipe book for something Renjun can eat. </p><p>He's glad he took the book from when he moved out of Doyoung's apartment. He doesn't know what he could do without it. </p><p>It's also nice having something your dead parents used to own with you. </p><p>Oh that was a bit blunt. Oh well. </p><p>Jaemin doesn't particularly care. Not anymore at least. </p><p>Something shuffling in the living room snaps the hybrid out of his thoughts. He walks around and sees a Renjun coming out of his room, dragging one blanket around his shoulders (two is a bit heavy to carry around), with Pangxie on his head. The human silently plops onto the couch and lets Pangxie scurry down from his head to the space next to him. "Injun what are you doing, you should be resting" Jaemin says, fixing the blankets on Renjun's tiny shoulders. The smaller doesn't say anything and points a weak finger at the TV in front of him. He's tired, but he can't sleep and in the end, became bored. "Ah, you wanna watch TV?" Jaemin asks. Renjun nods his head slightly. Jaemin hums and secures the blankets around Renjun better and gives him the remote. "I'm gonna be in the kitchen ok?" he whispers, and pecks Renjun's forehead. Renjun nods and coughs into his arm. Jaemin  pets his head, then goes back into the kitchen. </p><p>Looking at the screen, Renjun turns the TV on. The screen comes to life, the first thing popping up was a Music Bank performance from last week. He watches it for a while, then gets bored, and flips to another channel. He keeps flipping until a nature documentary of a mouse family comes on. He watches as the mother mouse goes out into the forest floor to grab food for her babies to eat while a snake eyes her from a far. Sucked in, Renjun slowly lowers his hand and watches as the mother mouse scurry off into her mouse hole as the snake chases after her. Pangxie looks up at the screen and watches as the mother mouse is protecting her babies from the snake. She puts down the shell and watches, equally as interested as the human next to her is. </p><p>No one questions where Donghyuck and Jeno are. </p><p>.</p><p>After minutes of wandering aimlessly while trusting that Google Maps will not lead them into some sort of strip club, Donghyuck and Jeno arrive at a small oriental medicine shop. </p><p>The pair are aware that this dingy store is not gonna have modern medicine but at the very least they could find something that can give Renjun a vitamin boost or something. </p><p>They open the door to a small shop that looks similar to Mr. Kim's back at District U. Jars of different herbs were stacked in shelves. Other herbs were hanging by string from racks, and some Chinese talisman were hanging on the wall of the store. At the counter was a young boy, probably 14 or so, playing a game with his phone. The boy looks up and makes eye contact with Donghyuck and Jeno. He stares at them for a while, before going back to his game. </p><p>"Uh..excuse me?" Jeno asks. The boy doesn't answer and keeps playing with his phone. "Hello? Dude?" The little boy doesn't pay attention. Donghyuck spots a back scratcher sitting on the counter and uses it to poke at the boy's phone. "Hey! I'm trying to play Among Us right now, and I'm TRYING to convince people I'm not the imposter!" the boy finally says. "Well, are you the imposter?" Donghyuck asks. The boy eyes the merman and at his screen. "Maybe.." he says quietly. "Then maybe you deserve to be caught and thrown out of a space ship." </p><p>The boy looks up at the merman with a offended expression. "Sorry, he's just cranky since we're lost. Can you help us now?" Jeno asks. The boy looks at the screen and groans when the defeat sound effect sounds from his phone. He turns it off and puts it on the counter. "Yeah I guess, since I lost thanks to SOMEBODY" he says, stressing the somebody while eyeing Donghyuck. The merman sticks his tongue out at the younger and crosses his arms. "Why are you guys lost anyway? Can't you guys just use the windows next door to go back to Neo City??" the boy asks, clearly annoyed from the loss of his game. That didn't matter to Jeno and Donghyuck however as they just stare at the boy wide eyed, and jaws dropped. "Wait, how do you know we're from Neo City?" he asks. </p><p>"Did you expect to just waltz into a shaman shop and NOT think I would see that you two are clearly supernaturals?" the boy asks. "But, Google Maps said this was a oriental medicine shop" Jeno says. "Yeah, it says that for humans obviously. There's even a bunch of talismen on the wall. As a supernatural you guys should be able to tell which ones are fake and which are real." The pair looks up at the red pieces of paper sticking to the wall. To be honest, no one really told them how to differentiate between a real talisman and a fake one. If Renjun, Doyoung, or Kun were to be here, then maybe they might've gotten the hint from them that this isn't a ordinary human shop. </p><p>"So? Did I help you or not?" the boy says. "Well, no you didn't actually. We're looking for a medicine that can help our human friend's cold. Plus we used the windows and mirrors too much so we can't use them anymore or else the City Council is going to kick our asses to hell" Donghyuck explains. The boy raises an eyebrow and gives the pair a unamused look. "Why can't you just go to a pharmacy to go get it, you can't get anything here" he says. "Tell that to Google Maps who thought this place was a fucking pharmacy kiddo" Donghyuck snaps back. Jeno taps on Donghyuck's shoulder to calm him down and gives a nervous eye smile. "Then do you happen to know the nearest pharmacy is?" he asks. </p><p>"Hyunki, who are you arguing with now??" a voice sounds from behind the boy. </p><p>"There's some supernaturals here grandma, and they want medicine for a human" "Hyunki" shouts back. Coming from the beaded curtains is the elderly woman that Donghyuck and Jeno had ran into earlier. "Well if they're supernatural then help them god dammit!" she scolds. When the woman looks to see who these supernaturals were, she smiles and claps her hands together. "I knew you two were fishy! Jeju Island my ass, you two are more like city boys who frolic through the streets on your iPhones!" </p><p>That's a Gyeongsangdo grandma alright. Strong with her words and health. </p><p>Jeno and Donghyuck give the woman a sheepish smile and greet her again. "Hello again ma'am" Donghyuck says, his tone now less grumpy and angry then before. "Yeah, yeah hello. What do you guys need? A medicine for a human?" Jeno and Donghyuck nod their heads. "And this human is living in Neo City I presume." The boys nod their heads again. The woman snaps her fingers and gestures for the boys to follow her. "Put that phone away Hyunki or so help me. Go do your homework if you're not gonna help me with the shop" the woman scolds in a stern tone. Hyunki immeaditly puts his phone into his pocket, then runs to the back. </p><p>The woman leads Donghyuck and Jeno to the back of the store behind another set of beaded curtains. Brown ceramic jars were sitting on shelves with pieces of cloth covering their tops. Bookshelves of old Joseon style books were towering over them from the wall while small table sat in the middle of the room in front of a paper window. "If you want your friend to be better from their cold, you're going to need more then rusty old modern medicine. That's not gonna help him completely" the woman says. She scans the shelves for a particular book then pulls one out when she finds it. "Your friend isn't a regular human is he? I doubt fate would let him into the city if he was." </p><p>"Yeah, he's a elemental human" Jeno replies. The woman hums and nods as she flips through the book. She spots a particular page and puts a jar on the table. "You see, elemental humans are stronger then regular ones. Sure he's going to be fine physically by taking regular human medicine, but his spirit level isn't going to get fixed." The woman throws a bucket of water into the jar. "What elemental does he have?" she asks. "Plant" Donghyuck answers. The woman grabs a small bowl of Moon Cherry Blossom petals and puts some into the jar. "May I ask..what your species is?" Jeno asks. "Me? Oh I'm a shaman. I specialize in medicinal potions. I used to live Neo City in District U, but I wanted to stay with the humans instead. Much more simple here then in the supernatural realm." The woman pours more ingredients in, and starts to stir them together until it glows a green color. Satisfied, the woman takes a ladle and pours the new potion into a mason jar. She twists the lid on, and hands it over to Donghyuck. </p><p>"Come, I ain't doing this for free you know" she says, and leads the boys back to the counter to where they can pay. "Oh, can we ask another question?" Donghyuck says. The woman takes the money from Jeno and nods. "We can't really use the mirrors and windows to get back to Neo City, so is there anyway we can get back to Seoul?" Donghyuck asks. The woman tilts her head. "Seoul? Why do you think going back to Seoul will be any better?" she asks. "The mirrors and windows in Seoul have better access to District 127" Jeno replies. The woman hands Jeno back his change and sighs. "Do they teach you kids anything useful?" she grumbles under her breath. "It doesn't matter where the windows and mirrors are, and it doesn't matter on how many times you take them. So if you need to go home, then just take the nearest window." </p><p>Jeno furrows his eyebrows. "But what if the City Council catches us?" he asks. "The City Council doesn't know shit. They don't control the bridge between the human and supernatural world. Fate does. Think about it, would you have gotten this tea for your friend if you didn't mindlessly go through the windows?" </p><p>Mmm, she's gotta point. </p><p>"Just take that mirror behind you to go back home. If you do end up somewhere else that isn't District 127, then maybe you weren't supposed to go back just yet." After she's done talking, she notices Jeno giving her a weird eye. "What do you want now young man? Don't believe me? I've been living on this Earth longer then your great great great grandparents, I know much more then you do." Donghyuck taps on the wolf's shoulder. "Jen I'm sure it's fine. We should get this to Renjun quick." Jeno doesn't take his eye off of the woman, but nods. "Thank you ma'am" Jeno says in a monotone, and walks towards the mirror hanging behind him. Donghyuck rolls his eyes, and thanks the woman, giving her a bow. He meets Jeno at the mirror, and sticks his hand through the glass. His hands go through it, making the reflection of the mirror wavy with ripples. </p><p>"Oh wait just before you go." The pair turns around. "Forgive me if this doesn't apply to you boys, but the spirits have been nagging me to tell you so I gotta say this." The woman points to Donghyuck. "Don't let your insecurities hold you back. Do the things you want to do with confidence, without doubts." Then, she points to Jeno. "Do not turn your back on your greatest friends. If you do, then you and they will be ruined. Trust them, do not leave them in the dust."</p><p>When she gets her words across, the woman wave them off. "Ok you can go now, make sure you friend drinks that every day until he gets better with some food." Jeno and Donghyuck eye each other, then say their good byes and thanks before stepping into the mirror into Neo City. </p><p>The woman sighs and watches the mirror ripple back to its normal state. She grows a sad smile on her face.</p><p>"I hope that little rascal is doing ok." </p><p>.</p><p>Sure enough, they didn't need to be in Seoul to get back to District 127.</p><p>Donghyuck and Jeno were able to get back and had stepped through the window of a store into the busy streets they are used to. "Huh, would you look at that" Donghyuck says, hugging the mason jar to his chest. Jeno doesn't say anything and looks down at the potion Donghyuck is holding. "Let's take that to Mr. Kim to see if that's safe." The wolf gets a look from Donghyuck. "Really dude, really?" </p><p>"I just want to make sure." Donghyuck raises an eyebrow. Jeno sighs. "Fine, but at the least we should take it to Kun hyung or someone. We don't know who that woman is." Donghyuck groans for like the 5th time today and nods. "Fine, at least you picked a person on campus. Come on Sherlock, let's go, Renjun must be tired right now." </p><p>.</p><p>"Here you go Injunnie." Jaemin says. He sets a tray of rice porridge on the coffee table and takes the bowl and spoon. "Do you want kimchee?" he asks. Renjun opens his mouth to say yes, but another cough came out instead. Jaemin chuckles and takes the whole tray to the couch. He sits next to Renjun and sets the tray on his lap. Renjun looks at the delicious porridge Jaemin had made then looks at the hybrid and tilts his head. Jaemin notices and smiles. "I can sip on some cherry juice later, don't worry about me." He takes a scoop of porridge with a spoon and places a piece of kimchee on it. The hybrid blows on it, then tells Renjun to open his mouth. The human opens it and accepts the spoonful of porridge. He checks on Pangxie, who's munching a cracker with her eyes glued on the screen.</p><p>Jaemin looks at the crab and turns to see what she was looking at. He watches in horror as a snake had wrapped around a baby mouse and engulfed its body in one mouthful. Pangxie drops her cracker in shock, and Jaemin and Renjun stare at the screen with widen eyes. </p><p>RIP Xiao Laoshu. </p><p>A knock on the door takes their eyes off of the screen. "We're backkk!" they hear Donghyuck say through the door. Jaemin places the tray on the couch and walks over to open the door. "Hey!" he greets. He looks at the mason jar in Donghyuck's arms. He looks back up. "What's that? And where's the medicine I told you to get?" </p><p>"That is the medicine" Jeno replies. Jaemin furrows his eyebrows. "It's a long story" the wolf adds on after. </p><p>Donghyuck squeezes through them and walks over to the couch where Renjun was sitting. "How are you feeling bro?" he asks. Renjun looks up and uses a so-so gesture with his hands. Donghyuck nods and walks into the kitchen to get a cup. While Donghyuck was preparing the potion tea, Jeno was telling Jaemin what had happened beginning to end. "And you made sure this woman was legit" Jaemin says. "Oh my god, what is up with you guys and not trusting old ladies" Donghyuck says, walking into the living room with a cup. "Yes we did, Kun hyung confirmed this can actually help Renjun. He needs to take a cup everyday until he gets better with food" Jeno reports. Jaemin nods and thanks his friends. </p><p>Renjun in the meanwhile and accepts the cup from the merman. "Thank..you" he manages to spurt out in a raspy voice. "You're welcome. Also don't talk, you sound like gremlin. Save your vocal chords the trouble and let them rest" Donghyuck instructs. Renjun smiles and nods. He takes a sip of the tea, and makes a surprised face. "Does it taste good?" Jaemin asks. Renjun nods and takes another sip. He puts the cup down on the tray next to him and attempts to take a bite of his porridge. His friends panic, and assist Renjun with eating, so he can eat it without burning himself or something. It makes the human smile. </p><p>The group spends the rest of the day watching the mouse documentary ("This is terrifying, why the heck are you watching this??" Donghyuck had said) until Renjun had fallen asleep. It would only take a day for him to get better, thanks to that tea the woman made for him. </p><p>He wished he could've met her. She sounded nice.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for Reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0039"><h2>39. 24. Bravo! Bravo!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Donghyuck's powers goes out of control after his musical performance.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>AH!! </p><p>Sorry for posting late! I had the ACT (a standardized test for college; like the TOFL) a two days ago, and was not in the mood to edit the story yesterday ^^;; </p><p>Just in case if you guys didn't know, there is a playlist on Spotify that is dedicated to this story! I made it a long time ago, but I haven't been promoting as much as I should've so, I'm doing it now! </p><p>The playlist's link can be found in the following a03 work with a menu of what songs are on there, and which element of the story they represent. So if that tickles your fancy, then go ahead, click the link below, and take a listen: </p><p>Song Menu for MmmmCherrie's FanFictions: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27343084/chapters/66808855</p><p>If the link doesn't work, then go ahead and look at my dashboard, it should be there huhuhu</p><p>Thank you guys for the support you give this fic, and enjoy this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>Neo University Theater Presents:</i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <b>Home Run!</b>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>A Original Musical Screenplay Written by a Neo University's Alumni, Boo Seungkwan!</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Starring Lee Donghyuck as Jeffery Jung, Yeh Shuhua as Jenifer Soo, and Lee Daehwi as David Park</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Come Friday, November 4th, at 6:30PM for the first performance at Neo Theater!</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Tickets out now!</i>
</p><p> </p><p>.</p><p>Renjun always enjoyed Donghyuck's plays. </p><p>What can he say? The dude is a talented actor and was able to score 5 lead roles during his time in Neo University. Not only was Donghyuck a good actor, he was also a good singer and dancer adding two more stars to the greatness of Donghyuck. </p><p>(Don't tell the merman that Renjun thinks this, it's going to go into his head.) </p><p>Tonight is Donghyuck's one of two last musicals as a member of the Neo Theater Club. The musical he is starring in, Home Run, was written by a talented alumni, Boo Seungkwan who was known for his excellent high notes. Knowing that the musical was written by a great singer and that it stars great actors, assures Renjun that tonight is worth the $15 he was forced to spend for tickets. </p><p>"Do I really have to wear a tie? This is a school play not the Neo City Symphony" Jisung complains, tugging on his tie. Jaemin smacks the younger's hand and tries to fix it. "You should really get more nice clothes. A regular collared shirt isn't something you wear to a performance, it's what you wear to a job interview for a McDonald's job" he says. Jeno laughs and turns towards the hybrid. "Are you his mom or something?" he says with a smile. Jaemin nods and hugs Jisung, much to the fae's complaint. "Hyung stop, you and the tie are blocking my trachea" Jisung wheezes out. </p><p>Renjun giggles and gently tells Jaemin to stop hugging (read: choking) the poor boy. "I'm going to the dressing room to give Donghyuck his bandanna. He asked me to get it for him." Mark nods. "I'll come with you, he must be nervous to be starring in a alumni's piece as a lead." The group separates at the entrance. Renjun and Mark walk towards the left to the door leading to backstage, while the rest walks down the steps in front of them to get to their seats. </p><p>When Mark opens the door, he and Renjun see Donghyuck standing in the hallway, his back facing towards them. Renjun and Mark smile and try to get his attention.</p><p>"Dong!...Hyuck?" </p><p>Renjun drops his smile. Something's up with the merman. For some reason he was in his fighting stance, his hand in a fist, covered by orb of water. Mark and Renjun share a glance before he slowly steps closer towards Donghyuck. "Hyuck?" The merman turns around. His expression was furious, his eyes dark blue. Mark takes a step back, startled by the sudden expression on Donghyuck's face. The merman on the other hand, notices his boyfriend and best friend staring at him and relaxes his expression and body. </p><p>"What are you guys doing here? Only the theater club can be back here" he says. His tone was darker then his usual sunny voice. "Oh, well, Renjun had your bandanna and I wanted to see if you were ok" Mark says. He had taken Donghyuck's hand into his and was squeezing it. Donghyuck takes a moment to think, then looks at Renjun. "You have it?" he asks. Renjun nods and walks up to the pair. "Here" Renjun says, handing over the bandanna with suspicion. Donghyuck lets go one hand from Mark's and takes the bandanna. "Thanks, I would've been screwed without it." He ties the bandanna around his wrist and takes a deep breath. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to hide from you people now because you aren't supposed to see my costume yet!" Donghyuck says. His voice had gone back to its lively tone, making both Renjun and Mark relieved. "Oh! So sorry Jeffery Jung! Break a leg!" Mark laughs, and walks with Renjun back to their seats. </p><p>"Have fun up there!" </p><p>"I always do Huang!" </p><p>.</p><p>The play was going great. Donghyuck and the rest of the cast were doing a excellent job portraying their characters as if it was actually them. The songs were catchy, the story is really compelling, and wasn't a single tech issue. </p><p>Well, until now.</p><p>During an important scene, when Donghyuck's character is confronting the antagonist, Renjun noticed one of the lights were hitting parts of the stage that weren't the focus of the scene. At one moment it would be shining on a random crate sitting at back of the stage, then the next moment it would be highlighting a painted window on one of the backgrounds the art club painted. This started happening a few scenes ago, but no one really questioned it since it only happened once or twice. Now, the light was going bonkers, it sometimes would even point and shine the bright light at the audience as if they were being interrogated by a team of detectives at a police station. </p><p>"What is going with the lights?" Doyoung whispers. "I know right, I think the next time they shine it at us, I'm going to go blind" Johnny whispers back. Taeyong shushes them and goes back to watching the play, though he seemed to as concerned as they were. </p><p>"I won't allow you to take over Diamond Circle! You have done nothing but manipulate the people of this town! Leave or suffer the consequences!" Donghyuck shouts towards the antagonist. He winces from the light shining right at his face, but he keeps his posture as the other actor goes on this schpeel of how the people of Diamond Circle were weak and that it was their fault for being easy to manipulate. Donghyuck puts his arm down and watches the antagonist continue his lines, when his eyes start to dart back and forth between towards something on the platform that hung above the stage and the actor. "He saw something" Renjun whispers to Jaemin. Jaemin nods, and begins to scan the area himself, squinting at the dark area where the platform was hanging in. </p><p>"It's a water spirit" Jaemin whispers. "How do you know?" Jeno asks. He points towards a little light blue whisp, dangling from the body of its owner that was covered by the top border of the stage. The tail moves, and the light moves. The tail moves again, then the light moves again. "I think it's playing with the technician" Jaemin theorizes. Water spirits love to play games. They will play one when the opportunity comes to them, whether the other party likes it or not. </p><p>Doyoung eyes a particular water dragon sitting a seat away from him for some guidance on what to do. He doesn't notice Doyoung's signal for help, and keeps watching the play.</p><p>"Hyung" Doyoung whispers.</p><p>Taeil doesn't turn his head.</p><p>"Hyuuung" Doyoung tries again.</p><p>The dragon doesn't acknowledge him,</p><p>"Hyung!" </p><p>This time Doyoung does get a reaction. From the people nearby him. They were shushing him for being so loud. </p><p>"Oh my god" he groans while sliding down on his seat. Johnny taps Taeil on the shoulder making him turn to him. "There's a water spirit and Doyoung was wondering what to do" the wolf explains. The dragon looks at the taller, then at the 6 boys a couple seats away from him, staring at Taeil like meerkats. "You're adults, you figure out what to do" is all Taeil says before going back to watching the play. Doyoung groans in frustration for the second time, gaining shushes from the people around him again. "Then let's go chase it off the stage. We don't have capsules, and we don't have any idea what the spirit's identity is, so let's just move it away before it breaks the equipment" Mark whispers. Taeil hums. "Yeah, do that, but be careful. Water spirits will do anything to win a game." </p><p>Meanwhile on the stage, Donghyuck was busy chasing his co actor around and off the stage. The curtains close, signaling that is now time for a 15 minute intermission, meaning the boys have 15 minutes to chase the spirit out of the auditorium. They quickly shuffle out of their seats, dodging each and every person getting up to get some sort of snack, stretch, or use the bathroom before they go back to sit down for another hour. The group bursts into backstage, ignoring all of the complaints of the tech people who tried to tell them to get out, and arrive at the back of the stage where the rest of the theater club were busy moving props and getting ready for the next scene. </p><p>"Typical! Just typical! I told you giving Donghyuck the lead role was a mistake!" a woman complains. She was in formal clothing with the messiest bun Renjun honestly has ever seen in his life, and had like 10 pounds of make up on her face. Renjun assumes this was the bitchy director Donghyuck told him about that just joined the club temporarily for this one play. She wanted, according to Donghyuck's words, "to direct the play because a alumni had written it, and was confident that with her instructions, she could make it better." </p><p>He also told him that no one bothered to listen to her and just followed the original script Seungkwan had written. </p><p>"Ms. Hong please calm down, Donghyuck just went up to calm the water spirit down!" Shuhua, one of the main actors of the musical, says. Ms. Hong huffs, and crosses her arms. "Typical merpeople, trying to play hero when the problem was THEIR fault in the first place! I hate people from the sea!" </p><p>Yikes</p><p>On the side, Ten was messaging his temples with the script in his hand, probably trying to stop the urge to punch this woman in the face (to be honest, Renjun thinks he should just give into that want and do it for the sake of everyone in the building). He drops his hands and turns towards the boys who randomly just appeared out of nowhere. "Donghyuck went up there" he yells to them, pointing towards the stairs. "Thanks hyung!" Mark yells back and gestures the group to come with him, to go up the platform. Ms. Hong stops complaining and finally notices the 6 boys running up to the platform, making her yap more on how Donghyuck is only bringing trouble to the club again.  </p><p>"Just get that merman out of my sight!" </p><p>The group stops midway up the stairs and turns around.</p><p>"Guys" </p><p>They turn back. Donghyuck was standing on the platform, his face holding a expression that was holding a mixture of annoyance and tiredness. "Ignore her, and help me with that" he says, pointing his finger at something. His friends climb up the stairs and sees the spirit spinning around in circles by itself, above the platform. "Where did the tech guy go?" Renjun asks. "He managed to shine one of the spotlights towards the wall over there to distract the spirit then leave" Donghyuck explains, He points towards a wall where, sure enough a spotlight was shining upon. He turns his head back towards the spirit.</p><p>"So, what's the plan?" he asks. "We gotta chase it out somehow so it doesn't bother the tech people anymore" Jaemin explains. Donghyuck nods and catches his fist with his own hand. "Simple and plain, I like that. How are we going to chase it out though, just scare it?" Jaemin asks his friends to let him through and slowly walks towards the spirit. The spirit stops spinning in circles as it senses another presence approaching it. It turns around and sees a hybrid slowly creeping up towards it and tilts its head. "How are we doing on time?" Mark asks. "We've got 10 minutes" Jeno answers. </p><p>"Hey! You wanna play chase?" Jaemin asks. The color of the water spirit noticeably glows upon the word "play." Jaemin gestures towards the group to get a head start with his hand hidden by his back and keeps his eyes on the spirit. "Come play with us! If you can tag us, you'll win. You ready?" The spirit nods its head eagerly, excited to play a much more fun game that isn't scaring a technician and his spotlights. The group runs down the stairs as Jaemin slowly counts down. </p><p>"3..." </p><p>"2..." </p><p>Jaemin stops at the edge of the stairs and waits for the group to get out of backstage first. When they're out of his sight, he gives a nice smile towards the spirit. </p><p>"Catch me!" </p><p>Jaemin uses his super speed to run down the stairs, through the backstage, to the hallway leading to the audience part of the auditorium. He whizzes by the group in the hallway making them stop in their tracks and turn around. They panic seeing the water spirit hot on their pursuit, going at a speed that's even faster then Jaemin's. "Go, go, go, go!!" Donghyuck shouts. Mark uses his own super speed, and Jeno turns into his wolf form and runs. Chenle shrinks down to hide from the spirit, and Jisung freezes a part of the floor, and slides against it as if he's ice skating. Knowing Renjun isn't as fast as the others, Donghyuck grabs his wrist and picks up Chenle from the floor ("you're not getting anywhere like that bud!") and uses his water elemental to slide faster on the ice Jisung left behind. "DONGHYUCK BE CAREFUL!!" Renjun shouts, holding onto the merman for his dear life. He looks back and yelps when he sees the water spirit practically 2 inches away from them. </p><p>"LELE OPEN THE DOOR!" Donghyuck shouts and tosses a tiny Chenle into the air. Chenle changes his size mid air and lands on the slippery ice on his feet with his arms wavering around like ungraceful penguin sliding on a glacier. "WHY DID YOU THROW ME!?" he yells, before crashing into the door face first. He quickly gets up though and opens the door just in time for Donghyuck and Renjun to slide through and onto the theater carpeted floor, like their dongsaeng, face first. </p><p>"Please, never do that again" Renjun says as Donghyuck helps him up. They turn around to see where the water spirit was. Chenle had closed the door on it to give time for Renjun and Donghyuck to get up from the floor. Though, there wasn't enough time left for the boys to get the spirit out of the auditorium and for Donghyuck to get back on stage. "Once Chenle opens the door, I'll distract it while you get in there" Renjun says. Donghyuck nods and tells Chenle to open the door. The leprechaun counts to three, then lets the water spirit out and Donghyuck in. It gets confused seeing Donghyuck going back into the hallway and tries to go after him, but gets called by Renjun. "Bet you can't tag me!" Renjun taunts. The water spirit glows a delightful light blue color again and begins to fly after the human. Renjun immeaditly starts to book it as fast as he can, seeing that his friends were waiting at the exit. "Chase us first!" Jeno shouts and turns back into his wolf form again.</p><p>The water spirit glows again and goes after Jeno instead of Renjun. Jaemin and Jisung helps Renjun and Chenle up the stairs, then join Mark in following Jeno and the spirit out the auditorium completely, and onto the courtyard outside. Most of the audience were starting to come back in to their seats as intermission was about to end soon. Part of that crowd, were Doyoung, Johnny, Yuta, Taeyong, and Taeil who only watch this blue ghost chasing a wolf with a group of college students running after them. To other people, the scene looks strange. To Doyoung and them, it looked like the group was doing just fine, and that there was nothing to worry about. They shrug, and walk back into the auditorium while sipping on their apple cider. </p><p>Outside, Jeno was running around the fountain, still being chased by the spirit. "What do we do, we can't have it chase us forever!" Renjun pants. He puts his hand on his knees and takes a moment to catch his breath. "I'll let it win, and ask it to go" Jaemin says. Renjun looks up and furrows his eyebrows. "It's just gonna go like that?" he asks. The hybrid shrugs. "Well, it's all we got!" He walks over towards the spirit and calls for it. The spirit stops chasing Jeno and looks towards Jaemin. It flies towards him and makes a gentle tap on his shoulder. Jaemin is tagged. </p><p>"Congrats you won! Now, since you had your fun, don't you think it's time for you to go home?" The glow from the water spirit fades, and it colors darkens back to its original teal. It shakes his head. "Oh? Why not? You've won, and you must be tired from playing with that technician all night." The water spirits shakes its head again and spins around in a circle once. Probably that was it asking to play another round. Jaemin looks back at his friends for some support. They just shrug their shoulders. Out of everyone, Jaemin is really the only one who knows how to talk with spirits without them getting pissed off or overly sad. </p><p>Jaemin hums while he tries to think of a solution. When he thinks of something, he looks up at the spirit. "Ok, then here's this. Since we're clearly the losers here, how about you give us, a punishment. That sounds fun right?" The glow comes back to the spirit's complexion again. Jaemin smiles and claps his hands together. "Great! Now, you can only do it if you promise to go home, deal?" The spirit lifts its tail to its face and taps it as if it is pretending to think. After a short ponder, it brings out its tail towards Jaemin for a shake. The hybrid happily accepts and shakes it. "Alright! Make it quick, we have to go back in." </p><p>"Why do I have a bad feeling about this" Renjun whispers to Mark The water spirit bobs its head up and down and flies up above Jaemin's head. Much to Renjun's amazement, the spirit drops a large balloon like water ball upon Jaemin's head, drenching him top to bottom. "Oh dear god" Jisung mutters. The water spirit flies over to the fae, and drops the water balloon on top of his head, then moves onto Chenle who unhappily screams from impact. It drifts over to Mark who had squeezed his eyes shut, and his shoulders scrunched up to his neck. "Gah that's cold!" Mark exclaims after the water balloon drop. After, it flies above Renjun's head and drops one that's relatively smaller then the other's. "Hey, why does he get a smaller one!" Chenle complains. </p><p>Right after his complaint, it drops another one on Renjun's head. </p><p>"Never mind, I'll shut up now" Chenle says. "I think that one was for Donghyuck" Renjun says. The spirit flies down and nods its head in agreement. "I'll take it, it'll be mean if you dunk his head during a performance" he says to the spirit. The water spirit shakes up and down, its color glowing again. It must be laughing from Renjun's words. "You forgot someone!" Jaemin singsongs. He was pointing his finger at a certain white Samoyed sitting in front of the fountain. The water spirit turns around and floats towards the dog and drops its last water balloon before waving the boys a good bye and flying away, back to its home. </p><p>"Great, now we're going to go into a air conditioned room, soaked" Mark says, looking at the water dripping off of his arms. Jisung shrugs. "Eh, I don't think it's that bad." Jeno tries to shake the water off of him (and failed, cause his coat is just so fluffy) and changes back into his human form. "Not everyone is Elsa Jisung!" he calls out. Meanwhile, Jaemin notices Renjun shivering slightly while trying to shake the water off of his arms. He walks over to the human and takes off of his jacket to put around his small shoulders. Renjun doesn't notice until he feels something covering him. "Jaem, you're going to be cold in there!" Renjun says, trying to take off the jacket. Jaemin stops him and puts his hand in his. "I'll be fine, you need it more then me."  Chenle makes a whistle to catch his hyung's attention and gestures them to go with him into the auditorium. "I wanna watch the rest of the musical!" he exclaims. </p><p>Oh yes that's right, the intermission is over. The groups tell Chenle to get a head start back to their seats while they jog after him. Hopefully they didn't miss anything important. Though, if they did, they can always ask their hyungs what happened. </p><p>(Doyoung tried to explain, but he ended up getting shushed again) </p><p>.</p><p><i>Home Run!</i> was a major success for the Neo Theater Club, and quite frankly, it deserves the reputation it had received cause quite honestly it's a very good show. Even if Renjun had missed a good chunk of it because of that spirit, he still enjoyed whatever he could watch. </p><p>It was two days after the premiere of the first show. Donghyuck had been performing for three nights in a row, and was still able to keep his sanity, which was quite impressive considering the events that had occurred in the first night. </p><p>It was also impressive, because he was also dealing with that bitchy advisor.</p><p>Renjun and Jaemin had time between their classes to go on a little walk around campus, then a lunch at the university's canteen. Renjun isn't sure why he hasn't been to the canteen. It's his senior year, and most of the food he ate were from the convenience store a block away, and sandwiches from Jungwoo's restaurant. It's much more smarter to buy some ready to be eaten meals for lower prices at a place that's right outside your door. </p><p>Eh, but the price was worth it since the quality of the food he ate didn't disappoint. </p><p>"We should go on walks together more often, it's very peaceful" Jaemin says. He had his hand in Renjun's, and was swinging them as they walked around the art department buildings. The hybrid had just picked up Renjun from his class. "I agree pup, I suggest talking a walk around Cherry Park next time?" Jaemin turns his head towards the shorter. "Why do you like to call me pup? I'm a grown wolf you know." Renjun giggles and ruffles the top of Jaemin's hair on his tippy toes. "Cause you're cute like a pup" he answers. Jaemin smiles in embarrassment and looks ahead. "Coming from the very adorable human who captured my heart since day 1." Renjun groans which makes Jaemin laugh heartily. He knows Renjun thinks his cheesy comments are cringy, and he enjoys taking a laugh whenever Renjun playfully rolls his eyes at them. </p><p>They arrive at the theater building, which stood right by the canteen, and the auditorium. On the doorsteps, Renjun notices Donghyuck talking with Ms. Hong on the doorsteps to the building. Judging by the merman's face, it looks like Ms. Hong was being infuriating again. Jaemin looks at Renjun, then turns his head towards what he was looking at. He scowls at Ms. Hong and shakes his head. "Geez, can she just give Donghyuck a break?" he says.</p><p>Right as he says that, Ms. Hong walks back into the building and slams the door on Donghyuck's face. The younger reacts immeaditly, by striking a bush that was in the middle of the courtyard with a water whip, then storming off towards somewhere else. Renjun watches in shock as the top half of the bush slides off of its bottom part and plops onto the ground upside down. He and Jaemin share a concerned glance and look at Donghyuck's back walking off to the other part of campus. The way he was waking away looked similar to how he stood in the hallway on the opening night of the musical. Seeing it twice is now making Renjun extra concerned. </p><p>"I'm sure he'll tell us what's wrong eventually" Jaemin says. They decided not to go after Donghyuck in fear of making him more angry then he already is,and went to eat in the canteen. "If he isn't comfortable with us asking, then it's better to wait till he is." Renjun sighs and picks at his bento. "I don't get it though, this already happened three times." Jaemin takes a bite of a tomato and tilts his head. "Three times?" he asks, after he swallows. Renjun nods and looks up at the hybrid. "When we were going after Jo Hyungil at District V, he trapped us individually in these rooms with a Hallucination Nightmare flower, which makes us hallucinate our deepest fears. I think it affected Donghyuck so much to the point where he had gotten angry enough to rip off a security camera on the ceiling using a water whip and throwing it through a door." He takes a sip of his drink. "Then when we went to see Home Run!, Mark hyung and I saw him standing in the middle of the hallway backstage when we went to give the bandanna. His posture was on guard, his fist was clenched in water, and when he turned around and looked at us, he looked furious. And, his eyes were dark blue."  Jaemin nods as he's munching on his lettuce. Renjun crosses his arms. "I know how you feel about asking people about their problems, but if Donghyuck's problems are affecting him enough to have this impact on his powers, then we need to ask. For his safety and ours." </p><p>"Don't bother, I kept asking him about it, but the brat won't tell me." Renjun and Jaemin stop their conversation and see Ten pulling out a chair to sit at their table. "Mind if I crash your date? I am stressed out of my mind right now because of Ms. Hong. Thank goodness today's her last day with the club." The fae sets his clipboards down and takes a sip of his water bottle. "By the way, have you seen the merpudu? I've been looking everywhere for his reflection on the performances." Renjun raises an eyebrow. "Mer..pudu?" he asks. "It's just a nickname Donghyuck has in the club, nothing personal. Have you seen him?" </p><p>"We saw him walking towards the science departments after talking with Ms. Hong. He chopped a bush in half before he went with a water whip" Jaemin says. Ten groans in frustration after Jaemin finishes. "I swear to god. Ms. Hong has been harassing Donghyuck ever since she joined. Just because we put a merperson as a lead for the show, doesn't mean she has to go all Karen and scream at us to take him off." Renjun furrows his eyebrows. "How much has she harassed him?" Ten shakes his head and leans on his arms on the table. "Too much, she keeps dissing merpeople and Dream City in front of him saying how they are weak minded, whiny, and self centered. To top it off, she also keeps insulting Donghyuck's water elemental skills, saying how merpeople had always sucked at fighting or something." </p><p>"Did you tell the Head of the Board about this hyung? That's pretty serious libel right there" Jaemin asks, now even more concerned. "I did, but all I got as a response was pretty much to tough it out. To me, not to Donghyuck, which I feel like if they told HIM to tough it out I don't know if that's a good, or bad thing." Ten sighs and gets up from his chair and puts it back. "Anyways, don't bother asking him. It'll just make him more upset if he's being poked at to talk about it" is what he says before saying his good byes and walks out the canteen. </p><p>.</p><p>If you couldn't tell, Donghyuck isn't the most confident with his water elemental. </p><p>Which doesn't make sense at all since Donghyuck is amazing at his abilities, and is able to handle them with great control, no problem. Though, after that encounter with Ten in the canteen, Renjun later realizes that it wasn't because he's bad at controlling his elemental. It was because he was a merman. </p><p>As Ten had already said, merpeople already get enough shit in Neo City. They have a city to themselves underwater, which makes people call them spoiled since no other species have their own city, except those who are closely related to the deities. Most merpeople, also don't specialize in fighting so, they are often called weak, naive, and unspecial. The water elemental abilities of a merperson compared to a fae are usually much lower and were used for self defense, not really for long term fights. It could explain why Donghyuck doesn't believe he is great at using his powers. It also explains why he intensively watches water faes in action whenever he has the chance. </p><p>Renjun doesn't remember a time Donghyuck had gotten harassed for being a merman though. He had heard small remarks yes, but he hasn't heard something happening to Donghyuck that was similar to Ms. Hong's continuous verbal abuse. Maybe it's because people don't realize Donghyuck's a merman at first glance. Maybe it's just because Renjun hasn't been paying enough attention. </p><p>He's afraid it's the latter. </p><p>The human had trusted that Donghyuck was always crystal clear with his emotions and thoughts, but after what happened, Renjun can't trust that thought anymore. Right now, he's not sure if Donghyuck is genuinely laughing hysterically at Jisung's annoyed face when Chenle made him wear a arctic fox headband without that thought of Ms. Hong lingering at the back of his mind. </p><p>"Wait, don't take it off, I wanna take a picture" Donghyuck snorts, and takes out his phone. "What?! No, hyung please don't do that" Jisung responds. "Come onnn, it's cute, plus I bet you can communicate with the arctic foxes this way" Donghyuck rebuttals. The fae reacts with a defeated grumble, making Chenle laugh while Donghyuck is taking a picture of Jisung. Right as the sound of the camera button goes off, Jaemin knocks on the door of the lab and pokes his head in. "Taeyong hyung found a spirit in the radar, so come into the office." He looks at Jisung then coos on how cute the younger looked. Jisung immeaditly takes off the ears, much to Donghyuck's and Chenle's complaint, and storms off to the office by himself. "Sungie wait for us!" Chenle calls out, and gets out of his chair with Renjun, Jaemin, and Donghyuck following him. </p><p>After being revived, Taeyong began to help Doyoung in the spirit labs, take Kun's spirit classes, and work at Taeil's flower shop. It seems busy, but the fire spirit told Renjun it gives him something to do, since he's been wandering around the city without doing much for 17 years. </p><p>So Renjun and them entered the office to see Jeno and Mark sitting at the coffee table staring at Taeyong with concern while the older was leaning towards the computer, his eyes squinting. He knew that Taeyong was going to need to get more used to spirit hunting. "What's up with him?" Donghyuck asks, taking a seat at the table. "Taeyong hyung said he found something, but he's been like that for the last five minutes" Mark replies. </p><p>Another 10 minutes would pass by with Taeyong leaning over the desk with all 7 of the boys sitting at the coffee table, staring at him. At some point Jaemin would get tired, and get up from the table to help him out. "Are you trying to figure out how to restart it or something?" he asks. "No, no, I figured that out after you taught me last time. I found the spirit, but I don't know where this is" Taeyong says. Jaemin nods and looks at the screen, then furrows his eyebrows. He leans over like how Taeyong did with his hand on the back of Doyoung's desk chair. "We lost a soldier men" Donghyuck says. </p><p>2 more minutes would pass, and Doyoung enters the office, his eyes on the clipboard he had in his hand. He looks up to see Taeyong and Jaemin with their faces piratically making out with the computer screen, then looks to the left to see the group staring at him like meerkats that just popped out from their boroughs. "The fuck happened when I was gone?" he asks. "Taeyong hyung found a spirit on radar, but he and Jaemin doesn't know where it is, so they've just been staring at the screen for the past 30 minutes" Jeno answers him. Doyoung sighs and walks over to the desk. He puts his clipboard down and asks Taeyong for the mouse. Sooner or later, he too is leaning forward and squinting at the screen. "Another one lost, so sad, they were so young" Renjun says, shaking his head. Donghyuck nods and pats his back, while Jaemin looks back at them with unamusement. </p><p>Finally, Doyoung finds where the spirit was on the map. When he did, he only muttered one sentence, and that sentence was; "Donghyuck, you're going home." </p><p>The group at the coffee table turn their heads towards the aforementioned merman. Donghyuck raises a eyebrow. "Am I getting evicted?" </p><p>.</p><p>No, Donghyuck was not getting evicted. </p><p>The spirit was just found in Dream City.</p><p>Which made everyone except Donghyuck a bit nervous. </p><p>If you are wondering why, it's because Dream City is underwater, and if you haven't noticed, the group, except for Donghyuck, can't breathe in H2O. </p><p>"It's going to be fine, my sister sent these breathing gummies for you to take" Donghyuck assures. It was the day they have planned to go to Dream City, and everyone in Jeno's SUV was pretty nervous. "You sure we can trust those gummies? You didn't just grab multivitamins from the shelf and ripped off the label right?" Jisung asks, eyeing the bottle in Donghyuck's hands. Donghyuck whips his head towards the younger. "No! I don't have a shelf in my kitchen dedicated to supplements like you do Park" the merman responds back. Jisung pouts and crosses his arms. "I do popping! It takes a lot of strength you know!" </p><p>Jeno parks his van in the District Dream's beach parking lot (in a space that doesn't have a time limit cause to be honest, they may be out for three days at least). Once everyone piles out, Donghyuck dashes over to the pier while the rest of the group hesitantly follows him. "Did anyone do research on these gummies?" Jaemin asks. "I did, but apparently I needed to have meraccess to the information" Jeno says. Renjun furrows his eyebrows and turns around. "Meraccess?" he asks. "Since when was that a thing?" Jeno shrugs his shoulders. "I dunno, but apparently I needed to live in Dream City in order to access any website made underwater." </p><p>"HYUNG WHAT'S MERACCESS??" Chenle shouts. Donghyuck stops jumping up and down on the pier deck. "WHAT?" he shouts back. The group walk onto the pier deck and ask him again what "meraccess" was. "The fuck is 'meraccess'?" he asked. "We don't know, that's why we asked you!" Renjun replies. Donghyuck shrugs and gets to opening the bottle. "I never heard of that before. I think it's just a thing they started to use after I left. Though, you would think that my mom would tell me about it when it first started to be used." He grabs 6 gummies, each shaped like some sort of sea creature (Renjun got a crab), and puts them onto his friend's hand. "They'll let you breathe underwater, as long as you don't go up to the surface. Once your nose peeks out of the water, the gummie's property is going to disappear." Donghyuck closes the bottle and stuffs it into a pocket he sewed in the hood of his hoodie. "Any more questions or are y'all still scared?" </p><p>"Still scared" Jaemin answers. Donghyuck rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "Come on, do I look like I would be giving you something that doesn't work?" he asks.</p><p>"Yes" the group answers in unison. </p><p>"You always have" Renjun says. Donghyuck clears his throat after becoming flustered by that in sync answer and thinks of what else to say to convince his friends that no, they are not going to drown due to his stupidity. "It's not so much the trust, it's the fact that you had these gummies in the cupboard since freshmen year" Jeno says. Donghyuck widens his eyes and shushes the wolf from speaking. "Freshman year!? Why are you giving us expired gummies?!" Renjun asks. "They're not expired Huang, they're made out of magical ingredients for goodness sake! As a potion maker, you should know that potions don't expire like regular food." </p><p>He does have a point there. </p><p>"Just eat them, if they don't work we'll just go to Taeil hyung and ask for something from him instead, deal?" Donghyuck says. The group look at each other and nod their heads. Considering that all of them know how to swim, that deal sounds promising enough. At the same time, they put the gummies into their mouths and start to chew on them. "Why does it taste like kale" Chenle asks with a scowl. "It's made from a special kind of seaweed. Don't mind the taste" Donghyuck responds. </p><p>Once Donghyuck gets the hint that they swallowed, he starts to scan the group for his first victim. He goes up to Renjun and grabs his wrist to walk him to the end of the pier.</p><p>Then, he pushes him off. </p><p>"YOU'RE TRYING TO KILL US!!" Chenle shouts, pointing a finger at the merman. "No I'm not! I was sure that you guys were going to take a long time getting INTO the water so I decided to, speed up the process." Donghyuck turns around and cups his hands around his mouth. "Renjun! Don't poke your head out of the water, but give us a sign that you're ok!" The human, using the best of his ability, lifts his hand out of the water, using a ok sign. The rest of the group run up to the edge of the pier and sigh in relief when they see his hand. To his surprise, the gummy had actually worked, and now he's waiting for the rest of his friends to jump in. </p><p>"See, he's fine!" Donghyuck says. As he says that, he pushes Jeno off of the pier. The group only watches how the wolf makes a splash as he goes into the water. Donghyuck then walks over to Jisung, and pushes him off as well. "He might as well just yell "SPARTA!" every time he pushes us off" Jisung grumbles as he joins his hyungs. "Well he pushed us off, not kick us" Renjun replies. Suddenly, they hear Donghyuck shouting "THIS IS SPARTA!!" and hears Chenles squeal as he's gently kicked into the water. "I asked him to do that, don't worry" Chenle says as he floats with his face towards the ground. </p><p>Meanwhile on the pier, Donghyuck is about to push Jaemin off when the hybrid stops him. "I'm good thanks" he says, and jumps into the water himself. Donghyuck scoffs, and crosses his arms. "Geez he's no fun" he mumbles. The merman turns around towards Mark. "How would you like to be entered into the water? Kicked, pushed, or bridal?" Mark raises an eyebrow. "What's bridal?" </p><p>Renjun wasn't that surprised when he saw Donghyuck jump in while carrying Mark bridal style. He honestly was predicting that was going to happen. "Oh that's what you meant" Mark says. Donghyuck lowers his arms to let Mark out and swims forward. His bright red tail had replaced his long legs. It complemented his black hoodie and his newly dyed red hair better then what Renjun had expected. </p><p>"Follow me guys!" </p><p>.</p><p>Dream City was so colorful. The buildings were unlike Renjun had seen before. Unlike the rectangular ones on the surface, the buildings here were different shaped like pretty blobs. There was a continuous theme of purple, light blue, and pinks within the city. It glowed enough for a person to see it from a far. </p><p>"Welcome to Dream City folks! Let's go on a city tour after we get to my house!" Donghyuck says, and swims forward. The city was much more grand when they swam into it. The buildings were high, and there was surprisingly, a street with cars on them. Though, these cars didn't have wheels, and instead floated as they moved with bubbles coming out from the back of them. Instead of having the regular car shape, these vehicles were instead shaped as rectangles with rounded edges. Different merpeople were swimming in and out of stores with bags of shopping items on their arms. The group would turn their heads towards a sound of a school bell ringing, to which Donghyuck would explain that the schools are very close by to where they are. "Dream City is very small. It's more like a big town then a city to be honest." </p><p>Upon view comes in a hill of houses outside of the city with a color scheme similar to the skyscrapers. When they arrive at the entrance, there was a large gate along with a community board filled with neighborhood news, drawings made by the kids living in the community, and updates on the identity of the thief who keeps stealing paprika from this neighborhood and the others nearby (to be honest, it's a strange thing to steal, but Renjun isn't judging). </p><p>Donghyuck presses a button on a intercom, and rings up a security guard that is in charge of the large gate. "Hellu" a voice answers. "Hellu, it's Lee Donghyuck, and I am with my friends" Donghyuck answers. A couple of seconds of pause passes by, then the voice speaks again. "Okie, how many people?" it asks. Donghyuck answers "6." Another pause. "Okie, come in." The large gate opens up, allowing Donghyuck and his friends to swim through. There was a toll booth next to where they were with a merman inside, who waves at Donghyuck as they came in. "Hellu Donghyuck, it's been a while" he greets. Donghyuck nods and waves back. "Glad to be back!" he says. The security guard looks at the boys and waves at them as well. "Hellu" he says. </p><p>"Hello" Renjun greets back with a bow. The security guard stops waving and just stares at the human. Donghyuck swims back towards Renjun and whispers to him. "He only answers you when you say 'hellu', not 'hello."' It's odd, but Renjun nods his head anyways and says "hellu" to the security guard. The guard then says "hellu" back and continues his hand waving as the rest of the group says "hellu", the correct way. "Is that a Dream City dialect or something?" Jeno asks once they were deep enough into the neighborhood. Donghyuck shakes his head. "Nah, he's just weird." </p><p>As they swim closer towards Donghyuck's house, Renjun notices the nervous expression Mark had on his face. "Oh I'm fine, just on the edge about something" the vampire answered when Renjun asked. "Ooo, are you nervous about meeting Donghyuck's parents of for the first time?" Jeno asks. "Oh no, I already met them in District 127. They are wonderful people. I'm just worried about meeting..the other person in Donghyuck's family." The only other person Renjun could think of was Donghyuck's twin, but even then he's sure she's not too hard to win over. Though then again, she is Donghyuck's twin sister, so she's bound to have some sort of strong attribute to her. </p><p>"We're here!" Donghyuck exclaims. Donghyuck's house was similar to the ones they had passed by on the way. There was a door with a intercom on it that had connected with a ongoing wall that barricaded the houses from the pathway. "Hope I remember the passcode" Donghyuck mutters. He enters in a set of numbers into the padlock, which, to his surprise, unlocks the outer door. "Oh thank god, they didn't change the passcode" Donghyuck says and opens the door. Jisung tilts his head to the side. "Wouldn't your mom text you if..she..oh my god" </p><p>"NANCY!!!" </p><p>When opening the door, a large celestial goldfish that was the size of Jeno's SUV, with large and budging eyeballs was sitting in front of the doorway, staring at the group, which made Jisung slowly descend into silence while Donghyuck began to hug the goldfish and kiss it. "I missed you Nancy! Oh, how was my favorite goldfish doing without me? Oh you are such a good girl!" The group could only stare at the goldfish with their jaws hung open she stared back, with her gargantuan eyes. "Oh! Mark hyung come here! You have to meet Nancy!" Donghyuck says, waving his hand up and down towards the vampire. The irises of the fish shift from Donghyuck to Mark, making him gulp before he swims forward. "Wait, so that's who Mark hyung has yet to receive permission to date Donghyuck from?" Jaemin asks. "Well to be honest, she seems quite protective of Donghyuck" Renjun whispers back. "And who can blame him for being so nervous" Chenle adds on. </p><p>"Uh..h-hi, Nancy..ssi" Mark says with a bow. Donghyuck turns his head towards him and asks why he was bowing towards a fish. "I don't know, isn't that what I'm supposed to do when I meet your family?" Mark answers back in a quieter tone. Nancy stares at Mark for while before blowing a small bubble from her mouth and letting it pop in his face. Donghyuck gasps in delight and hugs Nancy. "Thank you for accepting him Nancy!" he says. He lets go and hugs Mark. "She likes you!" Donghyuck exclaims after he lets go. Mark smiles, then bows again towards the goldfish ("Markie, stop bowing towards her"). "Thank you!" he says. </p><p>"Ahem" </p><p>Nancy looks towards someone besides her, then swims off to the side. That someone happens to be Donghyuck's twin sister, to which Renjun had gasped once she had came into view. It wasn't because she was ugly, no, she is actually quite pretty (The human may have seen Jeno blush a little from the corner of his eye). He never met Dongsook before, so he didn't really expect her to look exactly how Donghyuck looked when he put a wig on during their drunk karaoke night. "Sup" Donghyuck greets, while pointing finger guns. Dongsook rolls her eyes at her brother and crosses her arms. "We haven't seen each other for four years, and that's what you say?" she asks. "Technically we see each other whenever I look in the mirror with a wig on" Donghyuck says. </p><p>Dongsook rolls her eyes again, and looks towards the friends her brother brought with him. "Hi, I'm Dongsook, Donghyuck's twin sister, but I'm sure you can tell by our faces." Yes, Renjun can definitely can tell that they are twins. "You guys can introduce yourselves in the house. My mom already made lunch for us so I don't want the woman to complain about the food getting colder any more then she already has" Dongssok says, and gestures for the boys to follow her to the house. </p><p>From the gate, there was a yard with a pathway in the middle leading up to the door of the house, which from what it looked like had two floors. There was a little house, which Renjun assumes is Nancy's home, on the left, and a picnic table on the right of the gravel pathway. Speaking of Nancy, she watched the boys trail in from the gate, and had a particular eye on Jisung. The fae was the last to come in, so he followed the group without noticing the gigantic goldfish following him. While Donghyuck was opening the door to the house, Jisung had turn around and jolted to see two peepers staring at him, eyes narrowed making it a little more scary. </p><p>"Nancy go back to your house! I'm sure they'll come out to play with you later!" Dongsook says when she sees her pet goldfish boring her eyes into this poor ice fae. She opens the door and swims inside and lets the group in. Nancy follows Jisung as he tries to quickly get into the house. "Jisung will play with you later ok?" Donghyuck says. He gives one last kiss before sending Nancy back to the yard where she began to swim in circles before going back into her own house. As Dongsook closes the door, her mother had came up to Donghyuck and began to hug him after not seeing him for so long. "Mom! We saw each other at lunch with Mark hyung a month ago remember?" he says. </p><p>Ok, maybe not for so long. </p><p>"I know, I just miss you, and I feel bad for not coming to your play! Your father and I were busy with work, and Dongsook had plans with her friend group in college for a trip to the Coral Gardens" Mrs. Lee says. Renjun notices Donghyuck's smile slightly faltering at the mention of his musical. It must've reminded him of Ms. Hong. Next to him, Jeno and Jaemin share glances when they noticed Dongsook fidgeting at the mention of her father. "Take a seat at the table boys! I wanna learn all about you" Mrs. Lee says, gesturing towards the table. The inside of the house had more of a pink and white color palliate compared to the rest of the city. From the door, one would see a living room with a large porch and a couch at one wall and a TV at the other. Next to the door, with a short wall in between, was the kitchen, and a dinner table filled with food Donghyuck's mother had cooked for lunch. To the right were two doors, one of them probably being a door to Nancy's house, and to the left were a staircase that may lead up to the bedrooms and bathrooms. </p><p>For the next hour or so, the group would spend time getting to know Mrs. Lee and Dongsook, and vice versa. The food was great, and the conversations were going smoothly. After the meal had ended and the dishes were cleaned up, Donghyuck asked his mom and sister if they had seen a water spirit around the city, the real reason why the group was in Dream City. </p><p>Dongsook's and Mrs. Lee's reactions were strange. The group knew from experience that they were acting suspicious. "Oh! A water spirit? Why, I haven't seen any since you left!" Mrs. Lee says, hoping the boys would buy her lie. Dongsook doesn't say anything and just focuses on getting the last dish into the sink, though she almost dropped it when she heard the question. Mrs. Lee in the meanwhile, was playing with her fingers, and was staring at the wall, not the boys. A dead giveaway. </p><p>They didn't say anything about it out loud though, and played along. "Oh ok, just wondering" Donghyuck answers, his eyes darting between his mom and friends. Mrs. Lee tries to change the subject by asking them what they are going to do now. "Dongsook has to go back to the lab for a while, so I'm afraid she won't give you a tour of Haegwang University today." Dongsook scoffs as she swims upstairs. "I don't think Hyuckles here isn't going to let me since it's going to be "boring" for him." Donghyuck glares back at his sister and sticks his tongue out. "Neo University is much more interesting you know!" </p><p>"Sure, go ahead and say that while you know our swim team beat yours at the last swim meet." </p><p>"Your team had more merpeople then ours did! What did you expect!" </p><p>"Stop fighting! We have guests!" </p><p>Mrs. Lee sighs and messages her temples. "Sorry, I forgot how it was like to have TWO smart asses in my house" she says with a small smile. "Love you too mom" Donghyuck replies back. Mrs. Lee shoots a scolding glare towards her son and turns back towards the boys. "I suggest Donghyuck taking you around the city! I'm sure there are many things you guys can look at and buy." </p><p>"That's sounds like a good idea" Mark says. Yes, it does. Not only are they going to buy some sweet souvenirs, they're also going to keep an eye out for that water spirit. "Let me show you guys where you're staying then. You can put your guy's stuff there" Donghyuck says, and swims towards and up the stairs, his friends following him after. Mrs. Lee stays downstairs and watches them before dropping her smile and nervously play with her fingers more as she swims to the couch.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>DONGSOOK!!</p><p>If you guys are wondering what kind of goldfish Nancy is, she is a celestial goldfish.</p><p>You know, the ones with the..large..eyeballs </p><p>I am not making this up I swear</p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0040"><h2>40. 25. Something Isn't Right</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Dreamies investigate the strange behavior of Dream City</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HELLUUUUUU</p><p>Welcome back! </p><p>Just a little note! For the next few weeks, I may or may not be able to update this story. Reason being, is because the arc after this one (Donghyuck's) is not yet complete, and I will need time to finish it. I posted this story onto Quotev first, then here, which is how I am able to post on a good schedule. However, I don't want to keep my Quotev readers waiting since they have waited for a new chapter for like a month, so I will take time to focus on editing the next arc instead of posting a new chapter here since I take time to go through a chapter and edit it before posting it. </p><p>It shouldn't take as long as the Quotev readers have been waiting. I'm really sorry for this, and hopefully I can post something new soon! </p><p>Once again I apologize! </p><p>Enjoy this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hyuck, are those shells authentic?" </p><p>Donghyuck puts down a jar of sand and looks at what Renjun was referring to. He was holding up a cone seashell with red stripes around its white body. "Yeah, I actually seen this shell on the beach before. Why, are you going to buy it for Pangxie?" Renjun nods. "I feel like she's getting bored with the ones she already has." Jaemin looks at the shell in Renjun's hand and smiles. "I mean she already has over 50 shells in her tank. I think we should get her some sort of container she can organize it in first before getting anymore." Jaemin wasn't wrong, there was a large pile in Pangxie's tank. Both Renjun and Jaemin are worried that there isn't going to be anymore room for her to actually live in. </p><p>"True" Renjun says, and puts the shell down. The group was in a souvenir shop on the second floor of a building in the streets of Dream City. None of them had bought something they found nice yet, but maybe they will. Though, it'll be inconvenient to carry around if they see the spirit and have to chase it. Empty handed, the boys walk out of the store to the next destination. "I could probably take you guys to the zoo next, I can show all of the sea pigs!" Donghyuck exclaims. Renjun tilts his head. "Sea pig?" he asks. "They're a sea cucumber. They're hideous, but that's what makes them great." </p><p>The group didn't even walk a inch out the door when Jaemin whips his head towards something light blue, swimming through the air like a fast fish. </p><p>Found it. </p><p>Jaemin puts a finger to his mouth to tell his friends to be quiet, then leads them across the street towards the water spirit. Upon closer inspection, it looked like this was the same spirit that had appeared at Donghyuck's musical. "Didn't think we would meet it again so soon" Chenle whispers. While Jaemin is slowly approaching it, Renjun takes a look around his surroundings. On the surface, whenever there was a spirit, people would stop and look at it. Maybe they'd take out their phones to take pictures of it, maybe they'd point and talk to their friends about it. So when he noticed that no one wasn't paying attention, or really, TRYING to pay no attention to it, the human thought it was odd. </p><p>Interrupting Renjun's thoughts, the trash can the water spirit was hovering over suddenly bursts. The group freezes as the water spirit gets startled by the sudden explosion and turns its heads towards them. They stare at each other for  a while, until the spirit recognizes Jaemin, and waves hi with its tail. Jaemin doesn't say anything, but waves hi back. "What do we do?" Mark asks. Jaemin shrugs, but doesn't take his eyes off of the spirit. The spirit's color slowly starts to glow as it creeps up to the hybrid and lifts its tail. It makes a light tap on Jaemin's shoulder then zooms away from then, weaving through the people swimming the sidewalk. </p><p>"Guess, we're playing tag now! Come on!" Jaemin exclaims and starts to swim after it, his friends following. They squeeze through the people on the street, avoiding lamp posts and stands shopkeepers had set up. Lagging behind was Renjun, who was starting to loose his energy. Running was one thing, but swimming was another. "Guys! I'll stay behind! I don't think I can- AHH!" </p><p>The group stops and looks at Renjun. The human was on the ground, with something tied around his ankles that was weighing him down to the ground. "Renjun are you ok?" Jaemin asks. "Yes, yes I'm fine! Just go after the water spirit!" Renjun shouts. The group share a nod and continue their game of tag with the water spirit. Renjun in the meanwhile looks down at his ankle to see some sort of rope tied around his ankle with a ball hanging off of it.</p><p>Donghyuck, the one with the experience of swimming and having a tail, leads the group way ahead of them. From the side, a rope suddenly flings out of nowhere, and ties Jisung and Chenle together and pushes them against a fruit stand. "Ow" Chenle says after the impact. </p><p>Not realizing that two other people have fallen behind, Donghyuck, Jaemin, Jeno, and Mark, continue to go after the spirit, until they are stopped by a couple of police officers coming in between them and the spirit. "Stop! In the name of the law!" one of the exclaims. Before they could do anything, another piece of rope thrown by other officers on the side and ties Jaemin, Jeno, and Mark together around a lamp post. Donghyuck dodges another piece of rope that was coming to catch him and swim upwards, and spins like a torpedo through the police officers, knocking them out of the way. He looks back at his friends to make sure they were ok. "Go after it Hyuck!" Mark shouts. The merman nods and swims after the water spirit, who wasn't far away. </p><p>.</p><p>Way back, Renjun attempts to crawl against the sidewalk like some sort of demon creeping out of hell. </p><p>He couldn't untie the rope off of his ankle, and there's no way he can swim with this heavy ball so the human resorted to drag his body against the pavement while people side eye him with concern and judgement. </p><p>He is aware that the group is probably long gone at this point, but does he really have any other choices of moving? </p><p>"Come on..You should've took PE in high school instead of taking it in the summer" Renjun says to himself in Chinese. He puts one hand above his head, and painstakingly drags his body against the stone sidewalk, then puts another one. Thankfully, or maybe not so thankfully, two people pick Renjun up by his arms and throw him into the back of a police van. "Woah!" he exclaims as he's thrown. A police officer takes off to rope and slams the doors shut without telling Renjun why he's in the van. "Hey!" he shouts, banging on the doors. "What's the big deal!?" </p><p>On the other hand, Jisung and Chenle are attempting to get off of the ground, but are failing. </p><p>"Chenle move your big ass head off of my neck it's bothering me." </p><p>"Your head is as gigantic as mine dumbass." </p><p>The fruit vendor can only watch in agony as Jisung tries to shoot Chenle and him up with his ice elemental. On land it would work just fine, but in water, the fae can only watch as the ice coming out of his hands just float off into the distance like burrs of the wind in a field of flowers before landing face first on a basket of some sort of ocean specialized fruit. "This isn't working, can you shrink?" Jisung asks. Chenle sighs and tries to shrink into his smaller form. The rope was smart though, and tied a small Chenle even tighter against Jisung's back. "HELP!!" the leprechaun exclaims from under the rope. "Uh, kinda..tied up in the moment" Jisung replies back. </p><p>To take them out of their pain, the police officers who threw Renjun into the back of a van (it's not a metaphor, they literally threw him into the back of a van), pick JIsung and Chenle up and untie them. Once free, Chenle grows back into his regular size and tries run, but gets caught by another officer and gets throw into the van with Jisung. "Gege!" Chenle exclaims. Renjun looks up and joins Jisung and Chenle. "What's going on?" Jisung asks. "I don't know, I've been TRYING TO ASK THESE KNUCKLEHEADS FOR SOME ANSWERS, BUT APPARENTLY THEY'RE DEAF AS A MULE!!" Renjun shouts towards the doors.</p><p>"Hyung, mules aren't deaf." </p><p>"Shush, it's a expression." </p><p>"No it isn't gege." </p><p>"I am this close in strangling you both." </p><p>While Renjun was considering on whether or not Chenle and Jisung will make it to the police station, Jaemin, Mark, and Jeno had to deal with their own problems. </p><p>"Ok, let's use our super strength to rip the rope apart. On a count of 3, we're gonna lean forward ok?" Mark says. Jaemin and Jeno give the ok. Mark starts the countdown, and the trio starts to lean forward. Since Mark and Jaemin are on the same side of the lamp post, they should be able to make up for the amount of strength Jeno has, which is a lot. However, they didn't think that Jeno was strong enough to bend lamp post towards his side. </p><p>Well apparently he is. </p><p>"Ooo, look at me, I'm Lee Jeno. I'm a werewolf. According to science, werewolves are stronger then vampires wooo" Jaemin, the vampire werewolf hybrid who was born a werewolf, says in a mocking tone. "Hey! It's not my fault! Dogs are just stronger then bats!" </p><p>"Shut up!" Mark and Jaemin say in unison. </p><p>Jeno pouts and mumbles something about how it's a scientific fact. He stops when he sees a pair of fins in front of him, and looks up to the best of his ability. The two police officers in front of him, were staring at the lamp post in shock. "Hello officers! How are you doing on this fine day?" Jaemin is heard saying. There were other officers in front of him too. </p><p>They get thrown into the van. </p><p>.</p><p>"Name" </p><p>"Huang Renjun" </p><p>"Date of Birth" </p><p>"March 24th, 2000" </p><p>"Species" </p><p>"Elemental Human" </p><p>The officer stops typing and looks up at Renjun. He furrows his eyebrows. "How is there a human in Neo City, nonetheless Dream City?" he asks. Renjun lifts up his arms and shrugs. "I don't know, take a guess." </p><p>"Watch your mouth young man, I'm much older then you." </p><p>"I will when you tell me why you threw me and my friends in a van." </p><p>The officer closes his mouth, and goes back to his computer, making the human tsk. "At the very least you have to tell me why we are getting arrested." The officer looks up. 'Your friend bent a lamp post in half so you're being charged with property damage" he answers. "But, that occurred AFTER you caught us with the rope!" </p><p>"Also why are WE getting blamed for that?" Chenle asks from a chair in the back. The officer ignores him and keeps typing. The boys were brought to the Dream City Police Station and were being questioned one by one by a different officer. They didn't know why they were being questioned, and want to know, but none of the officers bothered to tell them. </p><p>"Ok, go sit over there with you friend" the officer says, directing to the chairs Chenle and Jisung were sitting on. Renjun gets up and sits next to them, not forgetting to glare at the officer on the way. A couple minutes pass by, and Donghyuck comes bursting into the police station. "Oh good! You decided to turn yourself in" the officer that questioned Renjun says. Donghyuck scoffs and crosses his arms. "No, who in their right mind would do that? I'm here to question YOU PEOPLE, for arresting my friends for no reason!" </p><p>"Actually you all are being arrested for property damage" the officer says. "I'm the only person who bent that lamp though!" Jeno exclaims from a couple desks away. Donghyuck looks at Jeno. "You bent a lamp?" he asks. "Long story, just do what you need to do Hyuck" Jaemin says. Donghyuck opens his mouth, shakes his head, then turns back to the officers. "I was born and raised in Dream City before I left for university, and I have never seen the police arrest anybody for no reason. What's the actual intention behind arresting my friends?" He slams his hands on the officer's desk and points a finger at him. "And don't say property damage again, because everyone in this station knows that's bullshit." The officer scoffs and share cocky glances with his coworkers. "What makes you think we'll tell you kid?" The younger merman takes his hands off of the desk and crosses his arms. "Well maybe, I'm being too merciful." </p><p>Donghyuck swims over to the entrance of the station and opens both doors to reveal Nancy, waiting to be let in. "Oh god" Renjun thinks. Donghyuck goes outside and begins to push Nancy into the station. When he succeeds, a POP! sound emerged as Nancy was pushed forward. "Nancy move please" Donghyuck says from the outside. The fish moves to the side to let Donghyuck in. He closes the doors and puts his hands on his hips. "Now, either you tell me, or you're going to participate in a staring contest with my girl Nancy." The officer, his mouth hung open, snaps out of his shock and tries to maintain his strong facade again. "You really think a...goldfish, is going to scare me? Just give up and take a seat." Donghyuck takes his turn to tut and gestures for Nancy to swim towards the officer.</p><p>Thus begins a slow descent towards mental hell. </p><p>The whole station watches as this colossal goldfish gradually make her way towards the officer. She knocks over every potted plant and furniture she bumps into, and keeps her eyes on the officer like a predator who found its prey. When she finally makes it to the officer's desk, she stares down at him with her humongous eyeballs and narrows them making them much more terrifying. From under her fin, pokes out Donghyuck who also narrows his eyes at the officer (though from behind, all Renjun can see are their butts, which isn't much of a pleasant sight). </p><p>"Talk!" Donghyuck exclaims. The officer doesn't talk, but he stares at the goldfish with so much feat that it looks like he could pee any second. The goldfish swims closer, knocking everything on his desk down. "OK, OK I'LL TALK, PLEASE DON'T GET CLOSER!!" the officer shouts. The group gets up from their seats and swims up to the desk to join Donghyuck and Nancy. "Why did you arrest us!?" Renjun asks. "Yeah! I already paid the expenses for the lamp post with my rent money by the way, and that hurt!" Jeno exclaims after. "We were told to arrest any revivers from the surface by the City Hall, that's all I know. I don't know why, there you got your information, now please get this fish out of my face!" the officer rambles, shielding his face with his arms from Nancy. The group share glances. Mark straightens up and crosses his arms. He looks at the other officers in the station. "I'm sure none of you will tell anyone that this happened right? Or else you will get a visit from Nancy too." Everyone nod their heads like bobble heads. Satisfied, Mark looks down and bows towards the officer in front of him. "Thank you sir, we'll be going back now" he says, and swims to the entrance. The rest of the gang bows too, and follows the older out the door (Donghyuck and Jeno were the last to come out, as they were pushing Nancy out the door).</p><p>.</p><p>"Ohh, you're such a good girl, yes you are, yes you are!" </p><p>Donghyuck kisses Nancy on the forehead many times, before giving her some food in her house as a reward. "That's my nice goldfish, muah!" </p><p>"Have you always had Nancy to threaten people?" Renjun asks. Donghyuck pats Nancy on the head and turns around. "No not really, she always threatens on her own will" he replies. He looks back to see Nancy staring at Jisung who gets scared enough to hide behind Chenle. The merman thinks, then puts a fist on his palm when he got his solution. "Ohhh, that's why she likes to stare at Jisung." Chenle tilts his head. "What's the reason?" he asks. Donghyuck turns towards the younger. "Nancy is always curious about other forms of water. I guess she sensed that Jisung was a ice fae and got curious." </p><p>"Are you sure it's curiosity and not the intent to kill?" Jisung asks, poking his head out from Chenle's shoulder. Nancy's eyes catch Jisung again causing him to welp and go back into hiding. "No, Nancy would never kill anyone!" Donghyuck says, though he puts a finger on his chin. "Well, actually I don't know that for sure. Anyways, let's go back into the house I-" He brings out a book from his secret pocket in his hood. "-have something for us to look at for our investigation" he says with a smug smile. </p><p>He puts it back into his hood, then swims over to the house and unlocks the door. "Mom! We're home!" he exclaims. "How was your shopping trip?" Mrs. Lee greets, swimming down the stairs. "Good, but we couldn't find anything we wanted to buy" Renjun answers. "Because we were arrested before we were able to" he thinks to himself. Donghyuck puts his keys into a bowl on the wall between the door and the kitchen and leads his friends to the stairs. Dongsook, comes down the stairs, ready to go outside with her friends. Mrs. Lee turns around and stops the boys. "Can you stay here for a second? I'm expecting something!" Dongsook raises and eyebrow as she is taking a sip of water. "Mom, did you order something?" she asks. Mrs. Lee shakes her head. "Oh no, I had dream given from a deity that something for Donghyuck is going to appear on our doorstep around this time." </p><p>"Mom! I told you not to believe in those dreams anymore! Remember the last time you did? We almost lost Nancy!" Dongsook scolds. Mrs. Lee tuts. "Don't talk to your mother like that!" Dongsook rolls her eyes as the boys were coming down the stairs, becoming antsy by the second to start their investigation. "Do you know who this deity is?" Donghyuck asks as he sits down. "Oh don't tell me you believe what she's saying" Dongsook says. She grabs a pair of sunglasses sitting on the TV stand, but drops them accidentally. Jeno notices and gets up from the ground to help pick them up for her. Their hands touch a little, and they look up at each other. "Ah ha, here you go" Jeno says awkwardly. Dongsook smiles and thanks the wolf before straightening up and going to get her keys. Jeno gets up and goes back to his spot to the couch. He looks up and sees Donghyuck staring at him, his eyes narrowed as like how they were back at the station. </p><p>LEMONADE</p><p>"He didn't say who he was, but he made the water stream we were by very significant. He seemed to be like..Habaek or something." </p><p>Moon Taeil. </p><p>"I'm going now mom!" Dongsook announces. She opens the door, and pets Nancy on the head, who for some reason was in front of the door (most likely to stare at Jisung again). The mermaid tells Nancy to move and notices something on the doorstep before she goes out. "Oh wow, so there was something for Hyuckles" Dongsook says, and picks up a bag with a post it note that read "To: Lee Donghyuck, use it!" Dongsook plops the bag on the wall and throws a peace sign before swimming out of the house and closing the door. "Go upstairs guys, I'll meet you in a bit" Donghyuck says before getting up and going to check what's in the bag. </p><p>Donghyuck's room looked very similar to his dorm room. Interestingly enough, the arrangement of the bed and his computer were in the same place. "Why do I feel like Geran should be in this room somewhere?" Jisung says when he enters the room. "Nah, she always hangs out either in the living room or in my room" Jeno replies back. A little while after, Donghyuck swims into the room with the bag in his hand. "I swear to god, Taeil hyung is too OP." He closes the door and throws the bag onto his bed, making the thing inside jingle. "Are those your shaman bells?" Renjun asks. Donghyuck nods his head while taking out the book he showed the boys earlier from his hood. "I told Taeil hyung I won't need it, but the dude decided to go through his way and not only drop it off here, but to also let my mom know using his magical deity powers." </p><p>Just Taeil things. </p><p>"What's that book you've been carrying around?" Mark asks. Donghyuck tells the group to gather around in a circle on the ground in front of his bed and puts the book in the middle. "It's a piece of evidence the spirit dropped after our game of chase, which I won by the way. This was my prize." Jaemin nods while Renjun picks up the book to observe it. "I like how you haggled for something" Jaemin says. "Learned from the best" Donghyuck replies and high fives the hybrid. Renjun raises an eyebrow at the book and looks at the description at the back. "Here, while Renjun looks at the book, how about we scope out some things from City Hall on their website" Mark says. Donghyuck nods and points to his computer. "Go use my computer." </p><p>Thus, the group went into action. Renjun and Chenle would occasionally feed info about the book to Jeno and Donghyuck searched up more information about it, while Jisung and Jaemin looked up things on the City Hall website. Mark had the job of writing everything down on a piece of paper Donghyuck had ripped out from one of his old high school notebooks.</p><p>"By the way Hyuck, is your dad at work right now?" Renjun asks. He knows the man is a prosecutor, which Donghyuck is very proud of. Considering that he hasn't seen him yet makes him assumes that he's still at work. "Yeah, he works very long hours until like, 10. We'll see him tonight I'm sure" Donghyuck says. He sighs. "I really miss him. I know I saw him with Mark hyung in District 127 a few weeks ago, but I still wanna hang out with him more. He's really the reason why I decided to go to school on the surface." Renjun smiles. "And I'm very sure he's proud of you." Donghyuck smiles back. "I'm sure he is too" he replies, which makes Renjun chuckle.</p><p>10 minutes pass, and is time for a check up. "Ok, so let me get this straight, the author of this book, named "The Sad Mouse" has a nickname "SM", who, does not have any information about them on the internet despite the fact that the book was produced by a well known publishing company" Mark says. "Yup, there's nothing about this person anywhere" Donghyuck says, scrolling through his phone. Mark nods, twirling the pencil in his hands. "What about the book itself?" </p><p>"Uh, all I could find was comments on a blog post that kept saying this book was very depressing" Jeno says. "I don't blame them, the story isn't the brightest" Chenle says, looking at the open book. Renjun then reads out a line from the page they were looking at: </p><p>"The mouse will always be weak, because she, came from a weak family. A family that was easily corrupted by riches and wealth, something she wanted to get away from, but can't. Because she can't do anything alone, she can't achieve her dreams alone. There was no hope, and there will never be hope." </p><p>"Yikes forever" Jeno exclaims. "By the way this is written, the mouse is the author I'm sure" Renjun says. He closes the book and throws it across from where he was sitting on the bed. "I'm going to take a break from reading that so I can save my mental morale" he says and leans against the wall. "Good call, Jaemin? Jisung? Any news?" Mark says. "Yup, I think we figured out what "meraccess" is" Jaemin responds. Jisung turns around in Donghyuck's swivel chair and presents the screen towards his hyungs. They all get up from where they were sitting and look at the post on the Dream City Hall's website that read the definition of meraccess. Though, it never said WHY meraccess was implemented. "What the fuck? How come my family never told me about this?" Donghyuck says. "That's not all" Jisung says, and scrolls towards a older post on the bottom. This post in particular, was more of a shock to the group. </p><p>
  <b>ATTENTION DREAM CITY RESIDENTS,</b>
</p><p>
  <b>YOUR MAYOR HAS FALLEN TO THE CO LEADER OF THE DOKZUZHI, JO AHYOUNG. YOU ARE PART OF DOKZUZHI TERRITORY. NO ONE IS PERMITTED TO REVEAL THIS TO THE NEO CITy COUNCIL OR THE SPIRIT REVIVERS ON THE SURFACE. NO ONE IS ALSO ALLOWED TO POST ANY PICTURES OF SPIRITS AROUND THE CITY ON SNS OR SHARE IT TO ANYONE ON THE SURFACE. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS WILL RESULT IN PUNISHMENT AS SEVERE AS BANISHMENT AND DEATH.</b>
</p><p>The group stares at the post, their mouths hung open. "Well, there's the answer to your question" Jeno says. Renjun looks at Donghyuck for his reaction. The merman only stares at the post in disbelief. </p><p>Then, there was a glint of dark blue in his eyes. </p><p>"Let's go to City Hall." </p><p>The boys turns around. "We need to go there" Donghyuck repeats, in a darker tone. "We don't know what's in there Hyuck, we can't just go in there without a plan" Jaemin says. "Then let's scope out the area first then come back to make one. That worked with District V right?" Donghyuck tells Jaemin. Jisung makes a hesitant expression. "Well, District V was much more easier to blend in, and we ended up fighting someone in the end remember?" Donghyuck straightens up. He eyes the bells sitting on his bed. "It's worth the shot right? Taeil hyung said that we need to work to take the DokZuZhi out. This is what we need to do" he says. The group shares a glance. Renjun sighs. "I'm in, but we gotta make sure to be careful." The rest of the group makes their agreement. Donghyuck nods. "Of course, we're just going to be there to gather info."</p><p>.</p><p>The streets around City Hall were empty. There were no weirdly shaped cars, no people, no stores, nothing. The only things present, were the amount of agents swimming around the area. There were large purple banners hanging off of the side of the City Hall building. More agents were stationed outside to keep guard. DokZuZhi cars drive pass by and into the driveway. </p><p>"Ok, I know we're gonna make a major plan later after we gather intel, but I think we should make something up so we DON'T get pummeled by those agents" Jeno whispers to the group. They were hiding behind the corner of a building, hidden from City Hall. "We need to figure out a way to get into the building. Hyuck, do you got some idea how?" Mark says. "No, I've never been in the City Hall building before" Donghyuck answers. Renjun tilts his head. "I thought you said your dad was a prosecutor?" he says. The merman responds with a sarcastic head tilt back and a dead stare. "Huang, prosecutors don't work at City Hall." Jisung taps Jaemin's shoulder. "I have an idea" he says to the older. "Well then say it child, we don't have any at the moment" Jaemin replies back, catching the other's attention. Jisung sighs and nods towards the sky. "Why don't we just take advantage of the lack of gravity here." </p><p>"Get to the point Park we're on enemy territory" Donghyuck deadpans. Jisung sighs and looks at Chenle, then points upwards. The leprechaun lets out a long "Ohhh."  "We could just swim up above the area and look where we can go in from above" Chenle translates. </p><p>That's not a bad idea.</p><p>.</p><p>And for once it didn't disappoint. </p><p>Renjun pats Jisung on the shoulder for a thought out idea. </p><p>From above, the group are able to see the whole outer layout of City Hall. Donghyuck takes out his phone and takes a picture of it before catching up with the others. "Knowing the DokZuZhi, there must be some sort of underground tunnel of some sort. How else would they have been able to sneak up on the mayor" Jaemin says. Once they swam far enough so that the agents won't have to see them when they look up, they scan the back area of the building for some sort of entry point. "I don't see anything except for that porch there" Jeno says, pointing towards the sliding door in the backyard of the building. Renjun furrows his eyebrows. He notices a hedge maze that connected towards the backyard. "Do you think they might've built something there?" he asks. Jaemin looks where Renjun was referring to. "Seems plausible, but I don't know how we're going to find it through a maze." </p><p>"The DokZuZhi don't have any wolf agents right?" Jeno asks, pulling out his dog whistle. "Not that I know of. They seemed to be more fond of vampires I think" Jaemin replies back. Jeno nods and blows his whistle. He closes his eyes and listens to the sound bounce off of every surface it hits. He opens them and tells the group to follow him. </p><p>They look for any security cameras that were hidden in the maze. Mark finds one and takes it out with his bare hands and throws it over the hedge. "Hopefully they won't miss that one" he says. "You could say that for every camera we broke in District V" Chenle replies. Donghyuck stays silent and follows his friends into the maze. Once they reach the ground, Jeno immeaditly gets down and brushes off a pile of seaweed off a metal hatch door with a padlock on it. "Did your whistle tell you what the password was?" Donghyuck asks. Jeno shakes his head and attempts to put in some numbers before Renjun stops him. "Wait! Look!" he says pointing towards three small light bulbs. "If we get the password wrong three times they're gonna know we're here." Jeno leans back and looks up at his friends. "So, any guesses? Birthdays? Founding dates? Someone's graduation date?" </p><p>"Uh, does anyone know when the DokZuZhi were founded?" Mark asks. No one has a clue. "How many numbers are we supposed to punch in?" Jaemin asks. "Four" Renjun replies. The hybrid nods, then asks Jeno to step aside from the padlock. "Why? You have a password you wanna try out?" he asks. "Yeah" Jaemin replies. Jeno raises and eyebrow. "Then why don't you just tell me what it is so I can input it?" </p><p>The atmosphere suddenly got thick. They stay silent for a while before Donghyuck clears his throat. "Sorry to interrupt your intense staring contest, but my hometown is kind of being overrun by poisonous buttholes, so if you have a pass code then put it in. We have two more chances don't worry." Jeno and Jaemin stop glaring at each other and look at the merman ("that doesn't mean you can glare at me now!") They share glances again, then look away. "1231" Jaemin mutters. Jeno puts it in. The first light bulb turns red. "1145" Jaemin mutters again. The second light bulb turns red. Renjun gulps. "Think of the next one carefully" Jeno says. Despite his warning, Jaemin immeaditly says "1144." Jeno turns towards the hybrid. "Jaemin are you sure?" Mark asks. "Even if it's wrong, we can always swim off. The security camera is down" Jaemin replies, staring at Jeno. Renjun presses his lips together. He looks down at the seaweed at his feet and picks it up. He stretches it. "Hm, pretty sturdy" he thinks, then ties it around his wrist in the case they need to fight DokZuZhi agents off after getting the pass code wrong. </p><p>"If it's wrong, it's on you" Jeno says, and puts the code in one number at a time. The group, except for Jaemin, gets ready to flee as Jeno approaches the last number. The wolf sighs and takes a deep breath before pressing the number four on the padlock. The last light bulb, turns green. </p><p>The hatch is unlocked. </p><p>"I almost got a heartattack!" Chenle exclaims. His hyungs shush him for being really loud. Jeno takes a glance at Jaemin before gesturing the others to come follow him down the hatch. Renjun takes Jaemin's hand and squeezes it. "Come on" he says gently. Jaemin turns to him and smile slightly. He nods and swims with Renjun under the hatch door before closing it shut. </p><p>.</p><p>Being the only one with a underwater proof phone, Donghyuck turns on his flashlight in the dark tunnel and leads the others. There shouldn't be a reason why agents should be in the tunnel since they don't need to be discreet anymore, but they still stay cautious. </p><p>"So where's our destination?" Renjun asks. No one knew, the tunnel was a continuous black snake that kept going on for miles. "Look there's light over there" Mark says. He points towards a spot of light that was coming through some sort of grate on the ceiling. Donghyuck turns off his flashlight phone and takes the boys to where the light came in. He squints into the grate above him to see what it was. "I think, this is the back of a staircase of some kind" he says. "Do we have anything to lift the vent open?" Renjun asks the group. "Don't worry, I got a solution" Donghyuck says. "You have a screwdriver in your secret pocket?" Jeno asks. Donghyuck lifts his fingers, but puts them down when Jeno made his joke (though by the looks of his face, it doesn't look like he was joking) and gives the wolf a dead stare. "What? Out of all the things you have in there apart from the book, a screwdriver is mighty useful" Jeno says. </p><p>"I can't believe my sister thinks you're cute" Donghyuck mutters and proceeds to go with his plan, ignoring the immediate blush forming on the wolf's face. He lifts his fingers up again under the screws of the grate and begin to create little tornadoes under them. The screws start to turn from the force of the tornadoes and pop off. Donghyuck goes for the last two screws, then catches the lid of the vent when it starts to float away from him and puts it on the side. "Neat" Renjun comments. Donghyuck nods smugly at him and swims out of the vent. </p><p>Once everyone was out, Donghyuck swims to the outer area of the staircase and takes a peek. "Ok, we can either go left, right, or up" he whispers. He swims back to the group. "Ok, then lets split up, that way we can cover more" Mark whispers. The boys split up into three mini groups. Chenle, Mark, and Jisung will go to the right, Jeno and Jaemin will go to the left, and Donghyuck and Renjun will go upstairs. "Alright gang, be careful, and make sure to keep watch of the security cameras here" Mark whispers. He looks out from the back of the stairs. </p><p>"Okay, let's get it!" </p><p>.</p><p>The hallway on the right had a series of rooms that a person would expect a City Hall to have. Just a bunch of offices filled with files on the city, nothing too important for them too look at or take. </p><p>Chenle shrinks and rides on a piece of rock he took out from the ground towards the camera sitting in the corner of the wall at the end of the hall. Mark and Jisung watch as he grows back to his original size and, while he is momentarily near the high camera. The leprechaun rips it off then floats down towards the ground. He signals for Mark and Jisung to come over. </p><p>"Oh my god I just want to go on my lunch break!" </p><p>They freeze. A agent swims out from one of the rooms towards the staircase. Mark and Jisung were in the entrance of the hallway, deer in headlights, while Chenle presses himself against the back wall. Mark signals for Chenle to shrink, and swims with Jisung into a open room next to them to hide. The leprechaun complies, the agent missing him by a second when he turned around to check the broken camera. "Now, how on Earth did this break? Nonetheless fall down??" the agent says to himself. While he's busy grumbling something about pay and pumpkin pie, Chenle takes the chance to take out a piece of the ground and ride it to the first room Mark and Jisung are hiding in. Once he slips in, Jisung slowly closes the door and locks it, then begins to create frost on the door's window to make it less visible. </p><p>"Fuck it, I'm getting a sandwich! I'm not in charge of the cameras anyway!" they hear the agent say. They watch his silhouette swim past the frosted window, then sigh a breath of relief after he leaves. "I swear I'm going to pass out by a heart attack in this place" Chenle says, his hand over his heart. Jisung pats it with his own hand then swims over to take out a camera that was sitting in the corner of the room. </p><p>The room they have hidden in was filled with filing cabinets (obviously), and a large meeting table in the middle (clearly). What was the most interesting thing in this room though, was the large map that was sitting smack on the wall. It was of Dream City (surely), though, there were areas outside of the city and within them were circled with purple ink. All of them were marked with X's. "Who here is best at drawing?" Mark asks after Jisung pretty much froze the camera into a freeze dried fruit. "I am" Chenle says almost immeaditly. "You and Sungie can't even draw a proper stick figure." </p><p>Mark rolls his eyes and spots a pile of printer paper and a cup of stationary in the middle of the large table. He grabs them and tells Chenle to copy the map. "Mark what they marked with a different color. Jisung, you go check out the filing cabinets while I keep watch." Jisung gives a thumbs up and begins combing through the cabinets while Mark stands by the door, listening for anything on the outside with his super hearing and ready to put his thumb on his ring to check for anyone near the room. </p><p>.</p><p>It's a bit awkward being partnered up with the dude who is suspicious of you.</p><p>Jaemin isn't stupid, he's aware that Jeno keeps giving him side glances every once and a while. He's aware that his time of keeping his real identity a secret is almost up. </p><p>He feels like everything is about to be revealed soon.</p><p>Right now though, he focuses on maneuvering through the hallway. He had taken down the camera in their vicinity, and others in the rooms they went into, Jeno doing his fair share of camera smashing as well. So far, every room seems to be only filled with meeting tables and filing cabinets. They would go through the cabinets, but it would be little less efficient to do so. </p><p>They swim to the room they haven't checked out yet, the last room. Jaemin puts his hand on the door knob and looks up to peek into the window of the door. He tilts his head when he sees there isn't any. "That's strange" he mutters, and opens the door. Instead of a room, there was another staircase, spiraling down towards something. The hybrid and Jeno share glances before going in and immeaditly taking out the camera in the room before going down. </p><p>"Jen stop, I can feel the holes you're burning in the back of my neck." </p><p>"Good"</p><p>Jaemin sighs and keeps on swimming. "Are you really mad at me about the pass code thing? Cause if you are then I'm sorry, I didn't think it was a huge issue." Jeno doesn't say anything for while, then says "I'm sorry too."</p><p>The tension lightened, but it didn't go away.  </p><p>At the end of the staircase was one door. The pair checks for any other cameras. Strangely enough, there wasn't any. "It's not in the wall or something right?" Jeno says. Jaemin shrugs. He doesn't recall the DokZuZhi being the spy type. They're more like the, "I'm going to barge into your space and there's nothing you can do about it" type. </p><p>"I don't think so" Jaemin replies. He looks with Jeno for any hidden cameras, then gives up. He swims over towards the door and puts his hand on the knob. There wasn't a window to peek into on this one either, so it's going to be a surprise. "Wait, look, you need a password for this one too" Jeno points out. Jaemin looks towards his right. There was yet again, another padlock. He groans. "I swear to god" he mumbles and takes his hand off of the knob. Like the one on the hatch, there was three light bulbs. "It shouldn't be the same one right?" Jeno asks. Jaemin inputs 1144. The first bulb turns red. "God, stop mocking me" Jaemin thinks. </p><p>"What is it now?" Jeno says. Jaemin doesn't really have a clue. If it's not 1144, then it's not going to be the other ones he suggested in the hedge maze. He jolts when Jeno suddenly yelps. Jaemin turns around and gets into his fighting stance with the wolf to get ready to fight the thing that scared him. That thing, turned out to be the water spirit the boys keep playing with. It too was in a fighting stance, though its color signified that it was confused. </p><p>"Oh it's just you" Jaemin says in a relieved tone. He asks Jeno to blow his whistle to check if anyone was coming down. "Nope, no one so far." Jeno says after he blew it. "Please don't creep up on us like that, we're a on a really important investigation right now" Jaemin says. The water spirit relaxes and tilts its head. It gestures to tell it what the mission was with its tail. "We're trying to figure out why the DokZuZhi took over Dream City" Jeno says. Jaemin notices the immediate, but short, color change the water spirit goes through when Jeno mentions the DokZuZhi. It went from its regular bright light blue, to a scared indigo, then back to its original color in a split of a second. He walks up to the spirit. "Don't tell me..this is your home?" Jaemin asks. The water spirit slowly changes into its indigo color. Jaemin widens his eyes and looks towards Jeno. He opens his mouth, but turns back towards the spirit. "Wait, if this is your home, then you are a DokZuZhi spirit?" Jeno asks. </p><p>The water spirit shakes its head rapidly. "If it was, then it would've attacked us right on the spot" Jaemin says. "But what if it just took a liking to us since we played with it?" Jeno says. Jaemin shakes his head. "DokZuZhi spirits shouldn't be allowed to go outside like this one does." Jeno furrows his eyebrows in response. "Then should mean.." Jaemin nods his head and finishes his sentence. "It means there's spirits in there that haven't been turned yet." He looks towards the water spirit in front of them.</p><p>"How do you manage to come out of this lab?" </p><p>.</p><p>Compared to downstairs, the upper floor was much more packed with agents.</p><p>Evidently, since, the floor was filled with personal offices. </p><p>"Shit" Donghyuck whispers as he and Renjun peek out from the corner. They panic when they see a agent coming towards their direction and look around for somewhere to hide. Renjun spots a closet behind them and opens it. "Get in!" Renjun whisper shouts. When Donghyuck gets into the closet, Renjun was able to close the door before the agent was able to make it towards the staircase. </p><p>"How are we going to grab info when there are a abundance of agents on this floor?" Renjun whispers, fearing someone from the outside can hear. Donghyuck looks around then starts clawing through the supplies that were in the closet. "What are you doing?" Renjun asks. "The only way we can sneak through there is with a disguise. You don't happen to have black Hanbok on you do you?" </p><p>As he's talking, Donghyuck spots two uniforms left over from the previous staff before Dream City got taken over. He takes them out and shows them off to Renjun. "Ok, but I'm pretty sure the DokZuZhi knows what our faces look like by now" the human replies. Donghyuck tosses one jumpsuit towards Renjun and puts his one. "Don't worry I got a plan." He grabs a pair of scissors and gives it to Renjun. "Cut some leg holes, I'm going to make us some mustaches." </p><p>Oh no</p><p>Oh no, no, no. </p><p>"This is not going to work" Renjun thinks. </p><p>Somehow Donghyuck had created mustaches for them to wear out of a roll of Velcro from a shelf. They're now pushing a cart through a sea of agents through the hallway with their heads down and their caps set low to cover their faces.  </p><p>"Hey!" </p><p>The pair freeze. They share glances and slowly turn their heads towards the agent who called for them. "Yes? What do you need from us janitors?" Donghyuck asks, for some reason, in a elderly voice. Renjun holds his breath as the agent slowly brings up a finger to point towards something. That finger,</p><p>points towards the room next to him. </p><p>"If you're looking for a room to clean, I suggest this one. Miyoo is a very messy person." A woman across from him in the hallway perks up and turns towards her coworker to glare at him. "Not as messy as your office! I suggest cleaning his first gentlemen." She points towards the room that was next to them, and glares at her co worker before he could protest. "Ok, thanks for the heads up" Renjun says in his regular voice and quickly pushes the cart into the office next to them. Donghyuck salutes them a good bye and follows the human into the office and closes the door. </p><p>Renjun looks around the room. It wasn't big. There was a desk in the middle of the room with a computer on top of it. Filing cabinets sat on the sides near the walls, with a painting of a mermaid that was crossed out with a chilling purple X sitting above the desk. He looks towards the upper corner of the room and spots a security camera. Using the seaweed he tied around his wrist, he extends it to whip the camera off of the wall. He turns towards Donghyuck. "I'll search through the computer, you get the filing cabinets." Donghyuck nods, and they both get to work. </p><p>About 4 minutes into their search, two agents were standing in front of the door of the office having a conversation. </p><p>"Did you see? One of the janitors was a merman." </p><p>"I'm not surprised, merpeople always get low level jobs like that." </p><p>Neither Donghyuck nor Renjun react. </p><p>"True, true. Now that I think about it, merpeople never really contribute to society as much as other species do. All they do is lie around in their own bubble that the City Council gave them" </p><p>"You know their nickname? It's 'Daddy's Spoiled Little Rich Girl.' They do nothing, yet they have their own city to themselves." </p><p>Renjun jolts when he hears the filing cabinet slam close. He looks up to see Donghyuck staring at the door. </p><p>"It's no wonder that the city was so easy to take over. It's like taking candy from a baby!" </p><p>"You know why they were so defenseless? Their magic and powers are weak compared to the fairies and the faes on the surface. They're literally like a bunch of babies." </p><p>Donghyuck gets up from the ground.</p><p>"Babies who are fragile, and feeble." </p><p>His hands slowly turns into fists. </p><p>"Nah, they're more like puppets. So easy to control, too powerless to do anything." </p><p>"Hyuck?" Renjun calls out. The merman doesn't answer. A dark blue orb begins to surround his fist. </p><p>"Useless beings" </p><p>"Donghyuck!?" </p><p>"An incompetent group of people that shouldn't exist." </p><p>"Donghyuck, calm down!" Renjun gets up from the desk to grab the merman's hand, but the latter pushes him away with his elemental and into the wall.  </p><p>"Don't worry, they'll stop existing.</p><p>Cause compared to everyone else, they have no power." </p><p>Bursting out of the door, Donghyuck tackles one of the agents down. "Woah! Woah!" the agent on the floor exclaims. The faux mustache falls off of Donghyuck's face. The agent widens his eyes at the face of his perpetrator before Donghyuck whisps him up in a tornado and pushes him down against a group of his coworkers. "It's Lee Donghyuck! It's Lee Donghyuck! The Dreamies are in the building!!!" the agent shouts, pointing a finger at the merman who just attacked him. </p><p>Renjun gets up from where he hit the wall and swims out of the office. Two agents were trying to hold Donghyuck down. "LET GO OF ME YOU MONSTERS!" he yells and uses his elemental to push them off. Renjun gasps on how dark Donghyuck's irises were, and the amount of violence he used to strike. It reminds him of when he cut that bush in half with his water whip, or when he stood in the hallway of the dressing rooms, fist clenched and ready to attack. </p><p>Donghyuck snapped. </p><p>A group of four agents manage to seize Donghyuck before he caused more destruction. Renjun furrows his eyebrows and uses his seaweed to wrap around one of the agent's ankles and pull him down. That agent turns around and points at the human. "Huang Renjun!" </p><p>"Yeah, it's me, and if you don't mind, we're going to leave now!" Renjun exclaims. He puts out his shield in time before any other agents tried to attack him and bulldozes the other agents that were holding Donghyuck down by running into them. He pops the shield and grabs the merman's hand. "Let's go!" he shouts. Before Donghyuck could protest, Renjun had already began to swim with him, away from the hallway. </p><p>.</p><p>"Uh, guys get ready! We're going to get company!" </p><p>Jisung and Chenle look up from their respective jobs. They jolt when Mark pushes against the door when someone tries to bust it down. Quickly, Chenle scribbles the last notes he had of the map, folds it and puts it into his pocket. Jisung gulps while getting in his fighting stance. "Is that Donghyuck hyung and Renjun hyung giving us their nice-" The people on the other side bangs against the door. "-nicest greeting?" Mark pushes himself onto the door and tries to use his super strength to hold it. "Could be possible-" Another bang. "-but I don't think so." </p><p>Sooner or later, Mark is defeated. Five agents come pouring into the office and immeaditly start attacking the trio. An agent in the front, starts off by attacking Jisung. He brings out a bat and begins to swing it at the fae. Jisung responds to the attack by creating a ice shield in front of him. Though, it would float away once he let go of it, so he continued to make more and more until he was backed up against the meeting table. "Drop the damn shield, it's not going to help you" the agent says smugly. Jisung eyes the space above him, then back at the agent. "Alright" he says. He gets up onto the meeting table and shoots upwards with his ice elemental like a mini rocket, before the agent is able to hit him. While in the air, Jisung kicks the dokkaebi agent in the face and takes his bat, then freezes it enough for it to break with one touch. The fae smashes it into the wall. dokkaebi agent looks at his crushed bat in horror. "Can't get your gold and silver now can ya?" Jisung asks with a smirk. </p><p>Behind the meeting table, Chenle was facing off with a agent with a ice elemental. She shoots her ice spikes, but misses when Chenle shrinks down. She scoffs. "You can't hide from me forever you little midget" she says out loud. The leprechaun in the meanwhile, swims towards her feet. He grows back into his regular size and lifts the agent up by manipulating the ground under her, then throws the woman into a wall. </p><p>Mark on the other hand, fights three other agents outside by himself. He was doing well dodging their attacks, but is unable to attack himself since there are three people against one (he thanks any deity or god that's watching over him for allowing his agility to work underwater). When Chenle and Jisung are done with their battles, they go out to help the vampire outside. However, the dokkaebi and the ice woman gets back up the ground, and makes the fight even harder to stay in one spot. "Let's just go!" Mark shouts, and swims with Chenle and Jisung towards the entrance of the building. Though when they arrived, they almost get hit by a ice shard by one of the guards outside, causing them to swim upstairs. </p><p>.</p><p>Without knowing the situation inside of the building, Jaemin and Jeno had followed the water spirit outside of the building and towards a window to a basement. It was slightly open, assuming that this is how the water spirit was able to slip out. </p><p>"This is where you came out from?" Jaemin asks. The water spirit nods. Jeno furrows his eyebrows while Jaemin goes to take a closer look at the window. "I don't get it, if you wanted to go out, why did you come back?" the wolf asks the water spirit. The spirit makes a gesture, almost as if it was sighing, and tries to answered when suddenly, Jaemin is literally blown back against the outside of the hedge maze by a ice and earth spirit. "I think you can tell me later" Jeno says to the water spirit. A ice and a earth spirit, glower at Jeno and Jaemin before turning towards the water spirit. They look back at the basement, then become more violent when they realize that the water spirit was out of its container. The water spirit doesn't respond, and only stays still. </p><p>"We gotta get out of here, we can't fight spirits if we don't have elemental powers!" Jaemin shouts as he swims back towards Jeno. Hearing this, the ice and earth spirit whip their heads towards the hybrid. The earth spirit lifts the ground that's under Jaemin, high into the air, while the ice spirit begins to shoot continues ice spikes at Jeno while spinning. </p><p>With the rate that the rock Jaemin was on, it was hard to get up from it. The hybrid slowly turns his head and panics when he's getting closer, and closer out of the water. As fast as he can, Jaemin grabs onto the edge of the rock and pushes himself off, then starts swimming back down. "Woah!" he exclaims when he sees slabs of rock hurling at him. Using his agility, the hybrid dodges each and every one of them as he swims further down towards the ground. Though, he doesn't see the piece of rock coming from his side, and gets thrown back onto the wall of the hedge maze again. </p><p>When Jaemin was up in the air, Jeno had turned into a wolf and was trying to avoid the ice spikes hurling at him from the ice spike. Though it was a bit hard, considering that he had to swim and not run. "God I wish I was a fish" Jeno thinks and yelps when he almost gets impaled. He turns his head and sees Jaemin crashing into the side of the hedge maze by a rock the earth spirit had thrown. Jeno turns back and starts to swim towards his best friend. "Jaem!" he shouts. Jaemin groans, and tries to heal himself immeaditly. "I'm fine, but you should watch out for that" he says. "Watch out for what?" Jeno asks. He turns his head and screams when he sees another rock being thrown at him by the earth spirit. "That" Jaemin says, as he's getting up. </p><p>At this time, the ice spirit had stopped trying to stab Jeno with a million of icicles and had turn towards the water spirit. It threatens for its watery companion to attack the pair. The water spirit doesn't react, and the ice spirit attempts to hit it with a icicle. It misses when the water spirit spin upwards, and is momentarily defeated when its opponent traps the ice spirit in a water orb and begins to spin it around like a table top into the walls of the hedge maze. It begins to look for the earth spirit after the ice spirit is down, but is too late when it sees the rocky ghost, chasing Jaemin and Jeno into the building. The water spirit is about to go after them, but almost gets hit in the core by a ice spike. </p><p>It sighs again, assuming that it's fight isn't over just yet. </p><p>.</p><p>Unlike their friends, Renjun's and Donghyuck's battle didn't move.</p><p>Cause Donghyuck refused for it to move.</p><p>Renjun had tried to calm Donghyuck down, but the human never gotten the chance as he was fighting his own share of agents on his own. He's lucky to have that seaweed tied around his wrist, otherwise he would've had to use flimsy sea plants that sat in the pots of the building.</p><p>On their own, the pair had to fight off a group of 5 agents each. Renjun defended by using his shield, and attacked using his seaweed rope by wrapping it around an opponent's ankle, and whipping others away. Though he had success in knocking some down, others kept coming. "I gotta do something to downsize this quick so I can help Hyuck" Renjun thinks. He gasps when he almost gets hit by a ice spike by a agent with a ice elemental. Missing the next one by bringing up his shield, Renjun begins to shrink it down. "Work please, work please, work, work, work!" When he decreases into the size he wanted, the human began to expand the shield whilst also having to push other agents off. He stops expanding, then pops the shield, the force blowing agents into walls and off of stair railing. "Now, it's time to help Hyuck." </p><p>"Hyuck", show no signs on backing down. The merman, his eyes still a vicious dark blue, fights the agents with methods he usually does not use on the surface. Taking the advantage of being a elemental merman in water, Donghyuck uses attacks such as his torpedo, making enough force with his tail to knock a couple of agents down, and manipulating the water around an agent to push them away, or, Donghyuck's personal favorite, encasing them in a water orb then launching them off of the stair case rail. </p><p>Usually during fights, Donghyuck would be smack talking his opponents. This time, he is dead silent. His charges are as aggressive as his silence. When he throws a person in a water orb, he made sure to throw them into the railing and break through it when the agents fall off. His torpedo, while only pushed the police officers to the side in the streets earlier that day, threw the agents hard enough to crack the walls. His waves had even almost killed an agent, which Renjun had to stop. "Hyuck, please attack a little more calmly!" the human begs. Finally, Donghyuck gives him a response; a tsk. He throws a pair of agents into the group that was following Mark, Jisung, and Chenle up the stairs. </p><p>"Woah! That was- WOAH DONGHYUCK HYUNG!!" Chenle exclaims. Mark looks over to where Donghyuck was and widens his eyes. "Help me calm him down please!" Renjun shouts from the railing. He dodges a strike from a agent and trips him with his seaweed. "What the fuck happened!?" Mark shouts back before punching an agent in the face. Jisung freezes the agent's feet to the staircase, allowing the trio to advance upstairs. At this time Jaemin and Jeno come zooming upstairs with a earth spirit behind them, not allowing Renjun to answer Mark's question. "Hey sweetie!" Jaemin quickly says and pecks Renjun on the cheek, before dodging another slab of stone. Usually Donghyuck would've made a remark about this, but he's too busy hurling things at the agents, and now, the earth spirit. </p><p>"THE AGENTS WERE DEGRADING MERPEOPLE IN FRONT OF US!!" Renjun yells. Mark's eyes widen more, then turn into an angry expression. Though, before he could act, a black shield suddenly encases him. "Hyung!" Renjun shouts. Donghyuck stops attacking, and turns around. Before his eyes, his friends started to be encased in black shields of their own. First Mark, then Jisung, Chenle, Jeno, and Jaemin. Renjun tries to fight off the shield by encasing himself in his own, but is then engulfed by it in the end. </p><p>"My agents were right you know." </p><p>The agents grab Donghyuck by the arms and make him kneel down. "LET GO OF ME! LET GO OF MY FRIENDS!!" he shouts. A woman tsks as she is swimming up the stair case. She had long black hair in a bun held by a hairpin, and was adorning a modernized version of a female Hanbok dress. She stops in front of Donghyuck, and glares at him. Then, scoffs to the side. "Hah, I always knew a merperson was going to bow down to me. Guess today is that day." Donghyuck's irises turn into a darker blue, almost black, as he tries to use his elemental to push the agents off of him. "Oh sweetie don't even bother, they are much stronger then you. Of course, you already know that do you?" </p><p>"SHUT UP! GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOMETOWN YOU LAND DOUCHES!!" </p><p>The woman kicks Donghyuck in the face. </p><p>"That's what you call us? Land douches? Think of a better nickname, 'Daddy's Spoiled Little Rich Girl.'" Donghyuck tsks, then gives a weak smirk. "At least our name for you guys is much easier to say." The woman furrows her eyebrows then swims over towards the merman. Donghyuck gets a look at the black bubbles behind her before she grabs his face with one hand. "Oh, I see you haven't gotten control of your powers yet. Look how much your emotions take over your powers" she says in a low tone as she is looking into his eyes. Donghyuck doesn't reply, which makes the woman grow a creepy grin. "Have nothing to say now sweetheart?" She lets go of Donghyuck's face and swims back to her original spot. </p><p>"I must say Lee Donghyuck, you do impress me. A merperson with a water elemental, is not common." The woman says. She snaps her fingers. A agent comes swimming in at a fast past with a chair for her to sit down on. "Though, the one thing that you disappoint me on is how you control your elemental. Sure you can make magnificent waterfalls, but do you have some anger control?" Donghyuck doesn't say anything, and only glares at the woman. He eyes the bubble Renjun is in, and hopes he has some sort of plan to get out.</p><p>(Renjun is currently trying to expand the shield his is trapped in with his own. It is growing very slowly) </p><p>"I know that you're not gonna want to listen to my whole spiel, so I'll get to the point. My name is Jo Ahyoung, and I have successfully taken over Dream City due to your city's incompetence." Donghyuck raises an eyebrow. "Is it really our incompetence, or your petty reaction of not being invited to our city's banquet with the City Council Ms. 13th evil fairy?" He would say Maleficent, but Maleficent was too cool of a character to be used as a insult. "Still trying to play tough I see? Well then, let me tell you this." Ahyoung leans down and rests her arms on his knees and looks Donghyuck straight in the eye. "I took over your city, because your dad was too chicken to protect his people." Ahyoung smirks when she sees Donghyuck loose his strong expression for a second at the mention of his dad. "What do you mean, he's a prosecutor not the god damn mayor" he answers. </p><p>"Oh? Aren't prosecutors supposed to protect their people? To serve justice? Hun, your father didn't do any of that. When all of the City Hall staff members, including the mayor, were under my captivity, your father could only stare in shock." Donghyuck furrows his eyebrows. "That still doesn't explain why Dream City is in this state because of him." </p><p>"Do you not know how Dream City politics work? I'm sure as a merperson, you should be able to understand your people's confusing system" Ahyoung says with a faux expression on her face. "Of course I know how. The mayor is on top, then after them is their advisory, then secretary, then the city's prosecut-" </p><p>Donghyuck pauses in his sentence.</p><p>Ahyoung's grin stretches out more.</p><p>"No" Donghyuck says, shaking his head. He knew his father would never step down from a fight. He knew that his father wouldn't let this city get taken over. He is the man of the law! No, no, this can't be. How can this man be the reason why Dream City is in a shit hole? "Oh but it's true hun. Once he realized that the mayor, his advisor, AND his secretary was down, he couldn't handle it. Poor Mr. Lee was all shaken up, didn't know what to do, like a cowa-" </p><p>"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" </p><p>Suddenly from behind, and agent is pushed up from the ground by a abrupt spring, and against the ceiling. Ahyoung is caught off guard and turns around. She laughs again and shakes her head. </p><p>"You, are wrong." </p><p>Ahyoung turns back around. "My father will never, NEVER give up Dream City like that. I have known that man my whole entire LIFE, and there is no way that HE will give up the people he loves. He knew that we were strong, and he would've done something to prove it." Donghyuck begins to shake the hands of the agents off of his arms, though there were no signs of letting go. "It wasn't because of him, it was because of you, YOU are the reason why my city is in danger, YOU are the reason why that people are suffering, so do me a pretty little favor and FUCK, OFF!!" </p><p>The woman kicks Donghyuck in the face again, this time, it was hard enough to make his nose bleed. She grabs his face. "You are in denial Donghyuck, I, along with the DokZuZhi, had to do barely ANYTHING to take over this city, and it is because of YOUR father. YOUR FATHER, surrendered by kneeling in front of us. YOUR FATHER, was the one to make an announcement to the city that they are ours. YOUR FATHER was the one to watch all of the City Hall staff become executed! And you know what? He didn't do anything to stop it, he let this happen." Ahyoung's grin comes crawling back to her face. "You and your puny friends arrested my father, so I, had make sure to return the favor." </p><p>Donghyuck widen his eyes. No wonder that grin had looked familiar. Jo Ahyoung, is Jo Hyungil's daughter. </p><p>"Well your dad tried to redeem himself before getting arrested you know!" </p><p>Ahyoung drops Donghyuck's face and turns around. Somehow all of Donghyuck's friends were out  of their shields. "How, HOW DID YOU LET THEM ESCAPE!?" Ahyoung shouts. Jaemin smiles. "All because of our friend right here." Coming out from behind him was the water spirit. After defeating the ice spirit downstairs, the water spirit had come and popped all of the shields the boys were in. Renjun's had manage to make a small burst, that was strong enough to knock a couple of agents down. Ahyoung gets up from the ground and demands her agents to attack the group. </p><p>Thanks to Renjun's little explosion, there were less agents to fight. Jaemin and Jeno fend off the agents that were by Ahyoung with hand to hand combat. Chenle takes this time to lift the ground from where Ahyoung was standing and trap her in a box. The earth spirit would try to free her, but the water spirit takes its attention by placing it into a orb and spinning it around. Jisung and Renjun take out the agents holding Donghyuck using the seaweed whip and a ice strike,  and Mark helps Donghyuck up. "Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?" Mark asks. Donghyuck shakes his head, but it was so weak, that Mark almost missed it. But he didn't. "Come on, let's go" the vampire says in a gentle tone. </p><p>"Let's abort mission folks!" Jaemin shouts after he and Jeno had taken care of the agents. The group begin to follow the hybrid down the stairs. Donghyuck makes a stop and turns around to make sure the water spirit was doing ok. It was still fighting the earth spirit, but notices Donghyuck looking at it with concern. It waves its tail at him to move on. "It'll be fine Hyuck, let's go" Mark says, and guides him down the stairs to meet with their friends to go back to Donghyuck's house.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading, and thank you for understanding this fic's situation! </p><p>See you in a few weeks!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0041"><h2>41. 26. Getting Dream City Back</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Dreamies plan with Donghyuck's father to get Dream City back.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HIIII</p>
<p>Wowie wow wow, it's been so long since I've last posted! I hope y'all are doing great! Sorry for delaying this chapter! I had to finish up a arc for my Quotev readers (they are a few chapters ahead of my ao3 readers) so I wanted to do that before posting this one here ^^;;</p>
<p>Another reminder, I have a playlist on Spotify dedicated to this fic, and since KakaoM has released most of the Kpop songs from hostage onto Spotify a long time ago, I have decided to advertise it again lolol.</p>
<p>It will be in this, ao3 work: </p>
<p>
  <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27343084/chapters/66808855">Song Menu For Mmm Cherrie's FanFictions</a>
</p>
<p>-which includes the link to the playlist and the significance as to why each song has made it into the playlist. Feel free to also recommend some songs for that playlist in the comments! </p>
<p>Thank you guys so much for waiting, and enjoy this chapter!</p>
<p>You don't have to listen to it while you're reading this fic, and in fact, can just listen to it anywhere!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hellu, this is Lee Donghyuck, please let me go home." </p>
<p>"L-Lee Donghyuck?"</p>
<p>Donghyuck raises an eyebrow at the nervousness present in the security guard's tone. There was a little pause for a moment before the guard spoke again. "U-um, c-come in" </p>
<p>The gates open. Donghyuck swims in first without waiting for his friends to catch up. All he wants to do know is to go home. The merman never spoke during the trip back to the neighborhood. There was a certain expression that was on Donghyuck's face, that Renjun couldn't decipher. It looked like a mixture of sadness, anger, and confusion. No happy emotions were present on his face for sure. </p>
<p>The group goes on their trek back to the house quietly, though, they notice the scared expressions on the neighbor's faces as they passed by. "What happened?" Chenle whispers to Renjun. The human shrugs his shoulders. The neighbors didn't seem to mind the boys when they first arrived. Why were they suddenly so afraid of them now? </p>
<p>Quietly, Donghyuck presses his the passcode to the intercom and opens the door of the gate. That's, when Renjun's heart dropped to his stomach. </p>
<p>The house was destroyed. There was a gigantic hole in the second floor, and the wall to the kitchen was missing. Windows were broken, the door was broken, it looked like the top half of the house was gonna fall off any moment. Nancy was tied to the wall of her own little house, trying to squirm out. Donghyuck only stared at the mess, flabbergasted. He spots his mother and sister, sitting on the lawn. Dongsook was comforting her mother, the older woman sobbing in the arms of her daughter. She looks up and sees her brother and his friends, then furrows her eyebrows and lets go of her mother. </p>
<p>"You're not allowed here anymore." </p>
<p>"What?" Donghyuck asks. It was in a soft tone, almost as if he too was about to cry. Dongsook gets up and swims over to Donghyuck and slaps him in the face. "Why the heck did you go to City Hall? I thought you knew what the DokZuZhi were like!" she shouts at her brother. Their mother looks up from the ground. When she sees her son, she looks back down and turns away. "WHY DID YOU GO!?" Dongsook shouts. "BECAUSE OF YOU, THEY CAME OVER HERE AND DESTROYED THE HOUSE, THEY TIED NANCY TO THE FUCKING WALL, ALL BECAUSE YOU WENT TO THE CITY HA-" </p>
<p>"ARE YOU DUMB!?!" Donghyuck shouts back.</p>
<p>Renjun and the group takes a step back. They can't do anything but watch Donghyuck quarrel with his sister. "You think, that after finding out that the DokZuZhi had taken over the city, a FACT that you or mom never bothered to tell me by the way, you think that I was going to let this go?" Donghyuck says. "We never TOLD YOU, BECAUSE WE KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN! Plus, it's not YOUR, or YOUR FRIENDS jobs to free the fucking city!" </p>
<p>"So what it's not our job? At least, we're brave enough and care enough about this city to drive these people out!" Donghyuck argues back. Dongsook pulls her hair out of frustration and, takes a deep breath to calm herself down. Before she speaks further, she puts her hands on her brother's shoulders. "Donghyuck, you don't need to be brave. Just because you have those elemental powers, doesn't mean you HAVE to use them. Please, just come back home. Stop facing away from reality, mom and I are begging you." </p>
<p>Donghyuck relaxes his face for a bit. He rarely sees this expression on his sister's face. Desperate, hopeless, almost like she's given up everything. He looks at the house, Nancy, then back at his friends. There was obvious worry written on their faces. The merman then thinks about the time he had on the surface. How he was able to grow as a elemental holder, how his friends gave him enough confidence to grow. If it weren't for them, Donghyuck would've went back to Dream City and stayed there for the rest of his life. Knowing that this, power, this elemental that only he and a few other merpeople have is useless. That it's useless to use as a merperson, as a species who can't fight, defend, and bring hope towards others. Cause, they themselves, don't have the hope to do so. </p>
<p>Donghyuck furrows his eyebrows and shrugs Dongsook's hands off of him. </p>
<p>"I'm not going to be like dad and give up" is what he says.  Dongsook's eyes widen at the mention of her father. "He proved to the DokZuZhi that merpeople are weak, and I want change that. Merpeople are not weak, and we are not hopeless" Donghyuck further says. Mrs. Lee puts her head up and gets up from the ground. She swims over towards her children, Dongsook, immediately coming to her support. She looks dead into her son's eyes. "Then I don't want you to come back to my house, ever again. You and your father has caused enough trouble for me and my daughter. Get out my life." </p>
<p>Without another word, Donghyuck turns his back against Dongsook and his mother and swims out of the property of the house. His friends follow him out, Renjun giving one last glance at Dongsook and Mrs. Lee as the young mermaid carries her mother to the doorstep of their house. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The trek once again, was silent. </p>
<p>Mark had suggested to instead help out Dream City from the surface. The rest of the group agreed. Now, they're on their way back out of the water on the same gravel path that took them to the oceanic city. </p>
<p>Renjun keeps a eye on Donghyuck. The merman's posture expressed his emotions very clearly. On the outside he may be emotionless, but on the inside Renjun can tell that he's heartbroken from the argument he had with his sister, and by the words that came out of his mother's mouth. </p>
<p>In the middle of the pathway, Donghyuck stopped. </p>
<p>"Hyuck?" Mark asks. Donghyuck doesn't answer, and only looks at the floor. Then, after a few seconds, he looks up at the vampire. "Hyung..." he trails out. Tears were coming of his eyes, which were red and swollen. Donghyuck sniffs, then sinks to the ground. His friends come to his side, Mark gives him a comforting hug. "Hyung..Am I doing the right thing?" he asks. He sniffs once more. "Is it worth it? *sniff*, I-I don't w-want to l-lose my family. I d-don't want to lose my h-home." </p>
<p>Donghyuck cries after without speaking, into Mark's shoulders. Renjun was giving him a hug from the back, while his friends gave the merman a hug from the side. They were together in a big ball on the middle of the pathway, while Donghyuck sobbed, and sobbed, and sobbed. "Hyuck, you're not going to lose your family. You're not going to loose your home" Mark whispers. "We're your family too you know-" He gently clears the bangs away from the merman's face to look at him better. "-and you'll never loose us." Donghyuck looks up slowly at Mark's face and sniffs. "I know" he says quietly, though, the tears don't stop falling. He puts his face into Mark's torso again. His crying was calmer, but it never stopped. </p>
<p>After a while, Renjun had felt a presence behind him. He turns around and sees Nancy and the water spirit behind him. He widens his eyes and taps Donghyuck softly on the shoulder. Donghyuck slowly lifts his head from Mark's chest and turns his head towards Renjun. The human points to the pair behind him and smiles at Donghyuck lightly. "I think they wanted to see if you were ok" he says in a quiet tone. The group looks up from the ground. Donghyuck gets up and moves towards the giant fish and water spirit. He silently, looks at the scars Nancy had on her body from the rope and touches them lightly. He swims back in front of her. "Did it..hurt?" he asks. Nancy answers with a bubble. Donghyuck's lips starts to quiver again. He gives Nancy a giant hug, apologizing to the fish for letting her get hurt. "I w-won't let it happen again!" he yells. Nancy closes her eyes, and rubs Donghyuck softly with her forehead as a sign of forgiveness. He laughs a little and gives her a kiss. </p>
<p>The merman then lets go of Nancy slowly and turns towards the water spirit. "Are..you hurt as well?" he asks. The water spirit shakes its head, and spins around as a way of saying "I'm perfectly fine!" Donghyuck along with his friends, chuckle. "Thank you, for helping us back there" Donghyuck says. The water spirit nods. It swims towards Donghyuck and whispers something to his ear. Renjun watches as Donghyuck listens to the water spirit's words, its color becoming a more calmer blue. </p>
<p>When it is done, the water spirit takes a swim back. Donghyuck smiles at the water spirit. "Thank you" he says quietly. He sighs and looks at his friends. "I love you guys" he says. Renjun smiles and puts a hand on his shoulder. "We love you too" Donghyuck hugs Renjun, then goes on to hug the rest of his friends. "The water spirit and Nancy wants us to follow them somewhere. It says there's a place we can stay for our investigation" Donghyuck says. He then turns towards the fish and ghost.</p>
<p>"Well, lead the way!" </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The location the water spirit and Nancy had taken them was a farm, far from the city. "We must've been swimming for like an hour, you sure they're not trying to kill us??" Jeno asks. "I'm sure we can trust Nancy and the water spirit," Renjun replies. He eyes the enormous fish in front of him. "I hope." </p>
<p>When they get closer to the farm, Renjun squints at the tiny, translucent bug like creatures scurrying behind the fence on the ground. "Hyuck? What are those?" he asks the merman. Donghyuck had silently followed the water spirit and Nancy from the gravel path to the farm, and hadn't really been paying attention to the things that they've passed, nor where they arrived. So when he heard Renjun's question, the merman too, squinted at the bugs on the ground before shooting his eyebrows up in surprise. "Those are sea pigs!" he says, pointing a finger towards the bugs. He swims ahead of Nancy and the water spirit to go see the "sea pigs'' up close. Just as the rest of the group had caught up with Donghyuck, they looked at the sea pigs with raised eyebrows and hung jaws. "Why, these..Don't exactly look like sea pigs'' Jaemin says, looking down at the critters below him. </p>
<p>The sea pigs, indeed did not look like pigs. They had four legs on each side of their body, and a pair of antennas on both the head and the butt. The mouth of the sea pig, also had short tentacles, the skin holding the color of a newborn panda. </p>
<p>In other words, it looked terrifying. </p>
<p>“That’s because they’re not pigs, they’re sea cucumbers,” Donghyuck tells him. He turns towards Nancy and rubs his face on hers. “Look Nancy! It’s your birth place!” he says, pointing towards the field before them. His friends simultaneously look at the field, then back at the large goldfish. “Nancy..came from a sea pig farm?” Renjun asks. It doesn’t make sense, yet it kinda does. “This isn’t just a sea pig farm, this is also a celestial goldfish farm! It’s where I got Nancy” Donghyuck explains. He pats Nancy on the head, then looks at the water spirit, who was observing a sea pig trying to communicate with another. “Is there a reason why you brought us here?” the merman asks the spirit. It takes its attention off of the sea pigs at the merman. Then, the voice of a middle aged man booms from the farm house. </p>
<p>“Welcome to the Sea Pig Farm! How may I help you?” </p>
<p>“Mr. Lee?” Mark speaks, his eyes comically wider than they already were. The man looks at Mark, his smile grows. “Mark! Oh how great it is to see you again, how’s med school doing for ya?” the man asks with a pat on the vampire’s shoulder. The man then looks at the rest of the group, and jumps back as if he didn’t notice they were there. “And who all are these lovely people?” he asks, his giant smile still plastered onto his face. </p>
<p>“These are my friends” Everyone turns around towards Donghyuck. The merman had his arms crossed, and had an emotionless expression. “Nice to see you again,"</p>
<p>"Dad.” </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The interior of the farm house was cozy, as one would expect. Though, it wasn’t small. The living room was quite large. The kitchen is the first thing one would see when they waltz right through the door. There was a couch with a TV to the left, and a staircase leading to the second floor behind it between a door that is most likely the bathroom and a sliding door towards a lawn. The overall theme of the decor seemed to be wood, which was strange considering the house was underwater. </p>
<p>“I didn’t think you guys would visit Dream City, nonetheless having Nancy lead you here” Mr. Lee says. He sets the mugs of drinks on the table where the group was sitting, and takes a seat himself. “Must be fate ain’t it?” he asks the boys, chuckling. The group gives a small laugh in response out of courtesy. They’re happy to see that Mr. Lee is alive, and that Nancy and the water spirit didn’t just lead them to a murder barn, but what worries them is the certain merman swimming around the living room, looking at the decor while also ignoring his father. Mr. Lee didn’t make an effort to call him to the table, he got that Donghyuck was upset with him by just looking at his face. The man made an extra cup of tea just in case, and set it on the side.</p>
<p>“Other than the fish and ghost, what brings you boys here?” Mr. Lee asks. The fact that this man sitting at this table, the person who gave up Dream City to DokZuZhi, has a face of a person who has nothing going wrong in his life amazes Renjun on how optimistic people can be in the worst situations. </p>
<p>Or, selfish.</p>
<p>But the human doesn’t want to go into that. </p>
<p>"You did dad, after you abandoned the city, Nancy and our good friend here took us to where you were hiding like a fucking coward!" Donghyuck yells. Mark jumps out of his seat and tries to swim over to Donghyuck to calm him down, but the merman stops him with the raise of a hand. "Donghyuck, listen" his dad speaks. </p>
<p>"No, you listen! Why? Why would you just abandon the city like that?! All my life, I have known you as the person who wants to create a different image for the people of Dream City. A stronger one, something that puts down that "Daddy's Spoiled Little Rich Girl" stereotype, yet here you are, hiding from your own people after LETTING THE CITY HALL GET MURDERED BY THE DOKZUZHI!!" </p>
<p>Mr. Lee doesn't say anything. Donghyuck's eyes were glassy, and his lower lip was quivering. "I got kicked out of the family because I tried to save Dream City with my friends. Because of you, I can't see my own SISTER and MOTHER, without them shunning me, and it's ALL OF YOUR FAULT!" Donghyuck swims up to his father's face using a boost to get to him faster. He starts pointing a accusing finger at Mr. Lee's chest. </p>
<p>"Because of you, I had this idea in my head that Dream City can change. Because of you, I thought I can get stronger if I went up to Neo City. BECAUSE OF YOU, MY HOMETOWN IS UNDER THE HANDS OF POISONOUS ELEMENTAL HUMANS!!" </p>
<p>Donghyuck stares into his father's eyes, panting after his angry spiel before taking his hand off and stepping back. "I hate you dad" he says, before swimming out of the house, slamming the door close. Renjun watches how slowly, Mr. Lee lets down a tear and buries his head into his hands. The human shares a glance with Mark. "Your turn" Mark says with his gesture. Renjun nods and gets up from his seat. "I'll be back" he whispers to Jaemin. The hybrid nods in response before Renjun gets out of the house to look for the merman. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Renjun would find Donghyuck in a barn house on a pile of seaweed with Nancy resting next to him. He had to get through a series of sea pigs and other large fish to get to where he was. It wasn't fun, but it was worth it. </p>
<p>He knocks on the barn door. "Yeah come in" Donghyuck lazily says. He was chewing on a piece of sea grass while resting his head on his arms. "It's time for your therapy session with Dr. Huang" Renjun says, closing the barn door. Donghyuck waves his hand to make a "shoo" gesture. "No go away, I don't want one" he says. Renjun tsks in response as he sits next to the merman. "You already paid your fee of friendship, and there are no refunds." Donghyuck scoffs in a playful way, then moves his head onto Renjun's lap. "Alright Dr. Huang, let me tell you how my life is turning into shit from the deepest parts of hell. Where shall I start first?" </p>
<p>"Mmm, for starters, tell me about your dad. This is the first time I'm really hearing that he's your role model. You don't talk about him as much to us" Renjun says. He started to stroke Donghyuck's bangs to make him feel relaxed. The merman sighs. "He's special to me. He's the whole reason why I decided to go to Neo City for high school and college. My dad.. Was the only person in this whole town to believe that I was able to use my powers for good. For something other then just sitting around and just selling sea shells all day. I felt like if I talked about him too much, then that too good to be true person, would just..Disappear." Donghyuck takes a moment to gather his thoughts, then speaks again. "People thought my dad was childish. Everyone in this city had given up in trying to prove the people from the surface wrong, but my dad, my dad had tried everything in his power to make that change. He reformed the police station, he convinced the mayor to hold this festival to celebrate merpeople and our achievements in history. My dad was able to throw those who have committed bad deeds in jail when past prosecutors couldn't, because of their lack of effort to do so. He was...amazing, and I wanted to be like him when I grew up. To change the world around me to create a better life for everyone." </p>
<p>He stops. "Then I hear that he had given up the city to save his own life. He had given up in a time of peril. That was a wake up call to me. That dream, that wanted I wanted to make into reality..can only stay..a dream." Renjun stays silent and continues to stroke through Donghyuck's bangs. When the merman had stopped talking, Renjun took this as a sign to as another question.</p>
<p>"Do you know what's been causing your acts of rage and anger?" Donghyuck doesn't respond right away. "I asked Kun hyung what that was all about" he says finally after a while. "He told me that elemental powers can take over you if you let them. We talked more, and came to the conclusion that it's been happening because I was stressed about the play." Renjun tilts his head to the side. "I think it's more then just the play" he says. Donghyuck looks up at the human. His eyes were puffy from crying earlier, but they had settled down upon arrival at the farm. "What do you mean?" the merman asks. "Well, the first time I ever saw you that angry was when we were in District V, after you had gotten out of your nightmare room. I've never seen you that angry before." </p>
<p>"What happened in there?" Renjun asks. "Like, how did Jo Hyungil mess with you?" He had stopped stroking, and instead started playing with the bangs instead, twisting it around, picking them up then letting them slowly drop through his fingers. "There were..these water people, and they were much more stronger then me" Donghyuck starts. "No matter how much I attacked them, they'll just get back on their feet and attack me right back. A thousand of my hits, had equaled one from each water monster." </p>
<p>"How many were there?" </p>
<p>"Five" </p>
<p>"You have to remember Hyuck, those monsters weren't real." </p>
<p>Donghyuck springs up, startling Renjun, and looks towards the human with a expression of frustration. "I know they weren't real, and that's the thing. In the back of my head, I knew they weren't actual water monsters. If there were, I would've known about them, but all I could think about was to survive, to defeat them, to get that fucking smug grin off of their faces each time they struck me." He takes a deep breath and sighs. Donghyuck buries his face into his hands, and rubs it. "I got angry cause Jo Hyungil took advantage of me. He used my deepest insecurity and made it into reality. Ever since that, I've been more self conscious about my powers. How other people thought of me, how I was performing. Any time I made a tiny mistake, I would get angry enough to break a wall or something. Then I had rehearsal for <i>Home Run!</i>, and I had to deal with fucking Ms. Hong's smack talk anytime she sensed I took a breath." The merman pauses for a second. "Deep down I know I'm somewhat a decent being Renjun, but..." </p>
<p>"But, you don't feel convinced enough that you are" Renjun finishes. Donghyuck nods.</p>
<p>After that sentence, a knock was heard from the front of the barn. Mr. Lee peeks his head in. "May I come in?" he asks. Donghyuck furrows his eyebrows and gets up from the seaweed pile. "Sure, let me just leave first" he says harshly and swims towards the entrance. "Donghyuck please" Mr. Lee pleads.</p>
<p>"What, what could you possibly say to make me feel better? Hm? That you had no choice? That you couldn't do anything at the moment? Well you know what, spoiler alert, that just make things worse dad." Renjun swims down the pile and grabs Donghyuck's arm. The merman whips his head around, scaring Renjun a bit when his eyes flash a dark blue. "Renjun let's go" the merman says in a low tone.</p>
<p>"Let's listen to both sides of the story." To be honest, the human is equally as disappointed at Mr. Lee as Donghyuck is. However, the fact that they had to hear this information from Jo Ahyoung, the enemy's side, could mean some parts of the story could've been twisted. It is only until they hear Mr. Lee's side of the story, can they judge whether he truly abandoned Dream City. "It's true" Mr. Lee starts. "I left my city behind, I was selfish, and a coward, just like everything you said. However, there may be some details that you may not heard of." Mr. Lee takes his son's hands and shakes them. "Please son, lend a ear, and you don't have to talk to me ever again. Forget about me, leave me behind like how I had done to Dream City." Donghyuck eyes Renjun. The human only nods, and gestures for him to say yes. The merman sighs for what feels like the 5th time today. "Fine, I'll listen. But Renjun and Nancy are my witnesses for what you said." Mr. Lee nods and let's go of Donghyuck's hands. He puts his hand over his heart. "I swear solemnly to speak the truth, and only the truth." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Before Mr. Lee could tell his side of the story, he had Donghyuck tell him what he had heard, and who he had heard it from. "Jo Ahyoung" he answers. Then, the merman goes on to tell Mr. Lee that Jo Ahyoung had told him that his father: 1. Kneeled in front of her, 2. Watch the City Hall staff members become executed, 3. He surrendered immediately. "Alright, now it's for you to talk" Donghyuck says, poison laced in his voice. Renjun puts a hand on his shoulder to keep him calm. "Ok, let me just say, yes I surrendered immediately. However, the first two details are not true" Mr. Lee says.</p>
<p>"Why did you surrender" Renjun asks. He figured he'll just do the talking. If Donghyuck were to ask the questions, he would've blew the barn apart by the time they move onto the second question. "I had to surrender, because their forces are not as strong as ours" Mr. Lee replies. Donghyuck tuts and lays down on the seaweed bale. Renjun continues the conversation, trusting the merman is still listening. "Are you saying that because you don't believe in merpeople, or are your forces actually weak?" Renjun asks. "The thing about our city is that, we don't have any defense force except the police. The police officers had tried to combat against the DokZuZhi when they were called by the mayor, but they were defeated once they swam into the City Hall building." Renjun narrows his eyes. "How were they defeated?" </p>
<p>"Poisonous gas. The agents fighting them had sucked most of the air out of their lungs by encasing them in a gas bubble around their heads and threatened that they will kill them if they were to fight them further" Mr. Lee replies. Donghyuck gets up. "And how would YOU know that? Were you there at the scene?" Mr. Lee nods. "I came with them as soon as I heard the mayor had called. Except, it wasn't the mayor, it was Jo Ahyoung. She wanted to take control of the police force early so our only defense line was crushed." Renjun nods and looks towards Donghyuck. He still looked upset with his father, but the more his he talked, the more that expression had relaxed. The human looks back at Mr. Lee. "Why do I feel like I'm interrogating someone" he thinks. "How did you surrender?" he asks as his next question. Mr. Lee sighs and presses his lips together. "I said the words 'Dream City surrenders to the DokZuZhi' while being held by the agents. Jo Ahyoung had threatened that if I hadn't said those words, the city would have been demolished by her agents." </p>
<p>"And you weren't kneeling when you said that?" Renjun replies. Mr. Lee shakes his head. "No, I was." The angry expression floods back onto Donghyuck's face again. "What!? You told me you didn't kneel in front of her!" he yells. Mr. Lee looks at the younger merman. "I did, but I didn't do it voluntarily. As soon as they scared the policemen, the agents had them pick me up and made me kneel in front of Jo Ahyoung." </p>
<p>Presumably, like how they had done to Donghyuck. </p>
<p>So far, Mr Lee had no signs of lying. Yoonoh had taught the group how to catch a lie, and the prosecutor showed none of the signs Yoonoh had demonstrated. He was looking directly at Renjun and Donghyuck, his hands weren't trembling. His pupils weren't shaking, and there was no fidgeting. Either he is telling the truth, or he is really good at lying. "Doesn't seem like the latter" Renjun thinks as he observes Donghyuck. The merman's face had became less hard when he had listened to what his father had said. He trusts the merman, that he knows for sure Mr. Lee isn't lying. Renjun asks another question. "Where is the mayor and the rest of the City Hall staff? Are they not dead?" Once again, Mr. Lee shakes his head. "I don't know where they are, but I know I didn't watch them be executed." </p>
<p>"So..Why are you at the farm then" Donghyuck asks. His tone was lighter, but it was dry of emotion. "I was ashamed. I realized what I had done when I was thrown out of City Hall, and couldn't go back home" Mr. Lee explains. "So I ran away, and came to this farm. It had belonged to your great grandmother before she had passed, so I decided to come here to hide in disgrace." The barn was silent after Mr. Lee had finished. No one said a word, before Mr. Lee decided to speak again. "Donghyuck, I am not asking for forgiveness from you, or from anybody. I just wanted to tell you what really happened. Yes, I am a coward, but I still believe Dream City is able to defeat the DokZuZhi, if they put in the effort and work together as a population." </p>
<p>Donghyuck presses his lips together, his eyebrows close to each other. He crosses his arms and shares a glance with Renjun. "What do I do?" he gestures. "Whatever you want to do" Renjun gestures back. The merman turns back to his father. "You're right, I won't forgive you. In fact, I don't think anyone in the city, will be able to forgive you." He closes his eyes and huffs. "But, I know a way you can repay for your actions." A light brightens in Mr. Lee's eyes. "Really? Tell me, what is it?" </p>
<p>"Let us stay here in the farm, and plan our invasion on the DokZuZhi. We're going to get Dream City back."</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Later that night, the boys got to business. </p>
<p>"This is all you got? In that whole room filled with filing cabinets, the only thing you got was a piece of paper?" Renjun asks. "I mean we could've gotten more if SOME PEOPLE didn't come crashing into the office and tried to kill us" Jisung replies. Chenle nods his head. "Yeah! You and Donghyuck hyung didn't get anything either, so you can't speak!" </p>
<p>"You're forgetting that we were already fighting minutes before you did" Donghyuck replies after coming back with a laptop. He sets it on the table and opens the City Hall's page. "Here, I'll look at these announcements for some sort of idea of what we can do, while you folks can figure out what Chenle scribbled onto this.." Donghyuck stares down at the paper Chenle is hugging. "Napkin?" </p>
<p>"It's notebook paper!" Chenle yells. He slams it down on the dining table and pouts. The map wasn't perfect, but it was still readable. One can tell that this was a map of Dream City and the areas outside of it. Though, there was one thing that was strange. "What are these purple circles?" Renjun asks, putting his finger on one of them. Chenle shrugs. "I don't know, look! They're all outside of the city." Indeed, all four of them were outside the line that separated the city, from the rest of the ocean. Donghyuck, one of the people in the room who knows Dream City the best, leans down to take a look at where these areas were. "Well, right now, we're right between these two" he says. The merman gestures towards a circle marked with a star on the top corner, and a circle mark with a X below it, something Renjun also has a question for. "But they're like 10 miles away, so it's gonna take a while for us to get there" Donghyuck says. </p>
<p>"K, well, we'll put this aside for now, what did you and Jaemin find?" Mark asks Jeno. He turns his head left to right when he notices Jaemin not standing next to the wolf or Renjun. "Speaking of which, where is he?" Mark asks. "He's figuring out the water spirit's identity right now" Jisung says. Ah yes, the actual reason why they were here, Renjun had completely forgot. "Got it, alright Jeno what did you find" Mark says. "Uh, for starters we found the place where the water spirit lives!" Jeno says. Renjun raises an eye brow. "Which is.." </p>
<p>"...A lab" </p>
<p>"WHAT!?" </p>
<p>"Hold on! Hold on!" Jeno says, putting his hands up. "What do you mean 'hold on'!? If that spirit came from THOSE labs, that means it's a DokZuZhi spirit!!" Renjun yells. Jeno nods his head like a bobble head figurine that's on the dash board of a moving truck. "Yes, yes, I am aware, BUT! It saved us, twice." Jisung furrows his eyebrows. "No, it saved us once" he says, worried that his hyung had lost his ability to count. "No! Twice! Long story short, the water spirit had been escaping its container from a small window in the lab, and was showing it to us, when all the sudden an ice and earth spirit shows up and throws Jaemin and I into the air. The earth spirit followed us back upstairs, but the water spirit stayed back at fought the ice one." It sounds convincing, but the group decides not to trust the water spirit just yet, until Jaemin comes back with info. </p>
<p>For the next 10 minutes, the group tries to figure out what the DokZuZhi was doing, and how they were going to stop them. Problem is, with so little clues and information, it seemed impossible to get an idea of what they were planning. "God, I should've just brought the whole filing cabinet!" Mark yells. Renjun sighs. He turns around when he hears the door of the balcony open, and watches as Donghyuck's father comes in with a bucket in each hand. Ever since their talk, Mr. Lee had been distancing away from the group to let them do their own thing. Maybe because he felt like a nuisance for helping, maybe he was honoring Donghyuck's wishes of staying away as far as he can from the merman. He sighs again, and stretches his arms. "I'm going to visit Jaemin" he announces (not that the group was paying any attention, they were way too focused on their...piece of paper and one internet page). The human gets up from his seat, turns around, and screams. </p>
<p>The group looks up from the table. Nancy was standing right behind where Renjun was sitting. She was staring at Jisung again, but this time, her left eye was twitching. "Oh my! Is it medicine time?" Donghyuck says in a tone fit for a baby. Nancy lets out a bubble from her mouth. That means yes. "Why is her eye twitching like that?" Jisung asks in a high pitch voice. "She has a eye condition that makes her eye twitch. She'll be fine, Nancy just needs a medicine ball that's all!" Donghyuck replies. He swims out of his seat and gives a kiss on Nancy's forehead. "I know where the medicine is stored, and I think Jaemin is around that area. We can visit him after we're done feeding Nancy" Donghyuck tells Renjun. He gets up close to the human and wiggles his eyebrows. "Unless you wanted some, privacy with him?" Renjun smacks Donghyuck lightly on the shoulder. "Even if I did, the water spirit is still there you idiot, let's go." </p>
<p>Well, maybe Renjun was planning to hug Jaemin from the back and hold a conversation in a relaxed ambiance, but we're not going into that.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The farm had a little medicinal shed that's filled with medical tools for the animals on the farm. It was wide enough for Nancy to swim into, but not tall enough to accommodate for her height. "They gotta do something about the roof" Renjun says, staring at Nancy's head touching the ceiling. Donghyuck hums. "They really should, my baby deserves to feel comfortable." </p>
<p>Donghyuck swims over to the shelves of the shed, and smiles when he sees a soccer ball sized green ball sitting in a container marked "Medicinal balls for Goldfish." He grabs one, dusts it off, and swims over to Nancy. "Ok girl, open up!" Donghyuck says. Nancy opens her mouth and lets Donghyuck set the ball in. "It's going to take a while for the medicine to take affect, so we're going to have to watch her eye twitch for a while" Donghyuck says. They both stare at her left eye, Renjun wonders if the fish feels unconscious or not (spoiler alert: the fish doesn't give two fucks). The human leans against a desk behind him and almost falls when a drawer threaten to fall out. "Geez, watch where you're leaning against bro" Donghyuck says. Renjun gives him a look, then tries to close the drawer, before laying his eyes on a particular piece of paper. </p>
<p>"NEO CITY RECORDS" it read on the top. Below it on the left, was a picture, of Jo Ahyoung. She looked a bit younger, maybe around 15 years old. Renjun picks up the record and finds more papers on not only Jo Ahyoung, but the City Hall building itself. Maps, theories, and even pictures were sitting in that drawer. "Uh Hyuck? Can you come over here for a sec?" Renjun says. Donghyuck takes his eyes off of Nancy's eye and looks over. He swims to where Renjun was, and widens his eyes when he sees the papers sitting in the drawer. He picks some papers stapled together and flips through them. "What..are these?" he asks. Renjun shrugs and picks all of the papers up from the drawers. "I don't know, but these could be really good clues for our plan." He stops. "Wait, we should ask your dad if we can use these first." Donghyuck looks up from the papers in his hand and raises an eyebrow. "My dad? What makes you think, he owns these?" Renjun puts the papers down on the surface of the desk. They were getting a bit too heavy. "Well, these papers look pretty fresh, and the last person, other then your dad, that lived in this farm is your great grandmother. Didn't you say she passed when you were 16?" Donghyuck doesn't answer. He looks down at the papers in his hand and at the pile sitting on the desk. Renjun picks up the pile and takes the papers in Donghyuck's hand. "Hyuck we gotta ask, these are going to be the info we need to create our plan" he says more softly. The merman doesn't say anything for a while, but then nods silently as his response. Renjun smiles, then tells Nancy to go outside, so that him and Donghyuck can go back to the house. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Renjun drops the pile of papers on the dinning table, grabbing the attention of his friends. </p>
<p>"What are these?" Mark asks, his big eyes becoming bigger. "We found these papers in the medicinal shed. They have information we can use to create a plan" Renjun says sitting down. Jaemin, who have seem to come back with the water spirit while Renjun and Donghyuck were gone, puts down a notebook he was looking at and picks up the first paper on the pile. He stares at it, then puts it down. </p>
<p>At that moment of time, Mr. Lee comes into the house from the porch door. He swims over to the refrigerator and grabs a can of sea plum juice, eyeing the pile of papers on the table, then taking a double look at it. "Where...Did you get those?" he asks, pointing at the pile. "Mr. Lee, I'm really sorry for taking these out, but if can, please let us use these papers" Renjun says. "We couldn't get many clues from City Hall, so using these will be a big contribution to our plan." </p>
<p>"Did you...Write all of these?" Donghyuck asks. Mr. Lee doesn't answer. His eyes dart between his son and the pile. The older merman sighs with 7 pairs of eyes, and the look of a water spirit on him. "Yes" he says after a while. "If you don't mind me asking Mr. Lee, what were these for?" Mark asks. </p>
<p>"These are notes I had written down for a ambush on City Hall" Mr. Lee says, as he grabs another chair to sit on. "Right as I got exiled, I immediately came here and started working on a plan. I stole documents from the police station here and in Neo City, I snuck around and took pictures of agents as they swam through the city, I even got one of them to tell me what they were planning." Renjun tilts his head. "Did you, ever go through with your plan?" he asks. Mr. Lee shakes his head. "I never even made one. I stopped while I was gathering information." Donghyuck crosses his arms. "Why?" he asks. "You could've done something!" </p>
<p>"No, I couldn't Donghyuck" Mr. Lee says. His tone was much less meek then it was before, and more stern. "When the agent confessed, I stopped. It was too much for me to battle alone" he replies. "What was the plan?" Jaemin asks. Mr. Lee looks at the hybrid. "To revive elemental spirits into agents and take over Neo City, starting with Dream City." Chenle raises his eyebrows, and opens up his folded paper. "Is this a map of where the spirits are going to be revived?" he asks the older man. Mr. Lee takes a look at Chenle's map, and nods. "Yes! How did you get this?" he asks. "He copied the map they had when we were at City Hall" Mark says. "Wait a minute" Donghyuck says. His hands were up, and his face held a confused expression. "If you knew about this, and you had information about, and also knew that we were trying to get Dream City back, then why didn't you give us the materials we needed earlier?" </p>
<p>"It's dangerous" Mr. Lee answers. The group gives out a collective groan. "How many times have we heard older people say that? Like 50?" Jisung says. "Nah more like 102" Chenle replies. Comically, Mr. Lee looks at the group, confused and a bit concerned. "Did I..say something wrong? It is dangerous. The DokZuZhi are powerful people, and are not to be messed with" he says. "Yes, we are aware" Jaemin replies. "And I'm sorry if we were rude, but we have fought with the DokZuZhi before we came to Dream City." Mr. Lee widens his eyes. "You have!? I thought you boys only do spirit reviving!" he says. "Yes, but we were tasked to deal with the DokZuZhi by a water deity. Plus, this organization involves the endangerment of elemental spirits, something that we cannot ignore" Renjun explains. </p>
<p>Mr. Lee stares at the human, flabbergasted. He turns towards his son. "Does...your mother know about this?" he asks. Donghyuck nods.</p>
<p>"When did you tell her?" </p>
<p>"Through text. I told her about our District V event by accident and she told Dongsook about it." </p>
<p>"Was she happy when she read it?"</p>
<p>"Of course not" Donghyuck says. "She's never happy when I'm mixed up with elemental stuff." He says the next phase quietly. "You were the only one who was." Donghyuck's dad looks down at the table, then looks up. "Why..have you never told me you did this? This is..amazing, and, and fascinating! My son, is a fighter of the DokZuZhi!" </p>
<p>"Well I tried texting you about it before I told mom, but it never went through. I tried calling you, but it said you had your phone off" Donghyuck says. His tone was not as happy as his father's and sounded quite hurt. Mr. Lee's face falls. "Oh, that must've been when I was exiled" he says, dropping his excitement. 

</p><p>Mr. Lee pats his hands onto his legs, breaking the sudden silence that dropped on the room."Even if it is risky, I will allow you to go through with your plan, and I'll help you, so you boys won't get hurt" Mr. Lee says. Renjun smiles in response. "Thank you Mr. Lee." Mr. Lee nods. Mark claps his hands. "Alright, so let's get to business! The faster we do this, the faster Dream City can be saved." </p>
<p>For the next 5 hours, the group, along with Mr. Lee worked on creating a plan. At the wee hours in the morning, they have finally created a plan, that could work. </p>
<p>Through the map Chenle had copied, and Mr. Lee's knowledge, they figured out that the DokZuZhi are planning to revive spirits into their agents by force, whether they have consented or not. It was announced on the City Hall's website, at 5pm the next day, the annual Mer Festival will occur, the very festival Mr. Lee created to ensure pride in the merpeople. Except, this year, merpeople are not going to go on rides, play games, or eat carnival food, and are instead supposed to gather around the City Hall for who knows what. It didn't specify what was going to happen on the website, but the announcement made it clear, that if one were to not show up at City Hall, they will loose their life. </p>
<p>Bam, a target location. </p>
<p>"We need a distraction at the..'festival' so that the rest of us can sneak into City Hall, and free the elemental spirits and the City Hall administration" Mark says. "Then after we get them out, we'll go to the surface and set them free on the beach" Jaemin adds after. "When spirits are forced in containment for a long time, they'll want to go around freely, so it's best not to take them back to the hospital." Mr. Lee nods in response. "That's a clear plan, but we're going to need to go over the details. How are you guys going to go into City Hall, and how are you going to distract the agents?" </p>
<p>"...How about a riot?" </p>
<p>The table turns their attention to the human sitting on the fourth chair. "I suggest starting a uprising against the DokZuZhi with the merpeople population" Renjun proposes. Donghyuck's father furrows his eyebrows. It seems like he may find the idea interesting, but may not think it would work. "Think about it, if we are able to get the whole city go up against the agents, not only will they be distracted, but they will be able to drive them out. A population of a 1,000 is still stronger then a hundred" Renjun says. "That's not a bad idea. We just need to figure out how we're going to be able to get the population come together as one" Mark says. The whole table, except for Mr. Lee, turns towards Donghyuck. The merman doesn't say anything when his friends turn to him and sighs. "Guys, how am I supposed to know the answer to that. I don't even think it's going to work." He turns towards Renjun. "You have any other ideas? Maybe like a circus, or have possibly gather Nancy and the other goldfish to bulldoze everyone into City Hall?" </p>
<p>"We can try" Mr. Lee says. Donghyuck turns towards his father with a expression of disbelief on his face. "It is possible. I've seen the city work together before." He looks at his son. "Donghyuck, I know I destroyed your trust and hope in Dream City, but don't let my mistake do that for you. You know deep down in your heart that Dream City is still the great city it is. It never changed when you were growing up, it never changed when you left, and it hasn't changed now despite the DokZuZhi." Mr. Lee puts a hand on Donghyuck's shoulder. "You are a merperson, have hope, have strength." </p>
<p>"Think about it, did Jeffery Jung give up when he was defending his town from the Ragged Bats?" Mark asks. Donghyuck's face becomes a little lighter at the mention of his character. "No..He kept with his plan till the end" Donghyuck replies quietly. "Exactly, and even when he did feel like giving up, his friends were there to pick him right back up" Renjun says with a smile. "Just like how we will" Jeno adds on. Donghyuck scans the people sitting at the table with him. His friends, and his father were staring at him with determination. He chuckles. "Geez this is too cheesy, fine let's kick their asses with merpower!" His father laughs and gives him a large pat on the back. "That's the spirit! Alright boys, tell me what else you have in store!" </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The next morning, Renjun found Jaemin up early in the living room, on the couch with the water spirit. </p>
<p>Quietly, he swims down the stairs and takes a look at what Jaemin was writing on his piece of paper from the back. They were notes of what he found through clues the water spirit had given him. He gasps, and covers his mouth. Jaemin looks up and turns around. "God you scared me" he says. His voice was raspy, a sign that he just woke up. "Sorry, I just realize that...we never helped you with the spirit stuff." Jaemin's face turns from annoyed to a small smile. "Don't worry about it, the city is pretty important. Besides, I got almost everything down about the water spirit's past." Renjun swims over the back of the couch and takes a seat next to the hybrid. He looks up and watches the water spirit spin around in circles then get dizzy from doing so. He giggles. "I think its bored." Jaemin looks up from his notes and winces when the dizzy water spirit bumps into the wall. "Sorry Ms. Oh, go ahead and play with Nancy and them if you would like." The water spirit stops spinning and nods its head. It bows, then goes out the open window of the house to play with the goldfish. </p>
<p>"What did you find so far?" Renjun asks. He hugs Jaemin's arm and looks down, not missing the smile growing on the hybrid's face. "Well, the spirit's name is Oh Haebin. She was the author of that depressing ass book we tried to look at earlier." Renjun tilts his head. "How do you know?" he asks. Jaemin puts down his notes and pulls out his phone. He shows a screenshot to Renjun of a biography page on Naver. It showed a picture of a young woman in her 20s,with basic information about her such as her name, birthday, blood type, and profession. In the box of the latter, it read "Author."  </p>
<p>"What are you guys doing, it's so early." Renjun and Jaemin turn around to see Donghyuck, and Jisung swimming down the stairs to where they were. "We're going over what Jaemin found on the spirit" Renjun says. Jisung's sleepy eyes shoot open upon mention of the spirit. "Oh shoot" he says, a little more awake. "It's fine Sungie. I've been doing this for years, finding out a spirit's past is nothing compared to actually catching it" the hybrid assures. Donghyuck and Jisung let out a relieved sigh. They've been so focused on Dream City that they forgot the actual reason as to why they were in Dream City. </p>
<p>The four goes over the information Jaemin had gotten as the other members of their group come down one by one as he is explaining. "Jeez, would it kill you guys to wake up at the same time?" Jaemin groans, after explaining for the 6th time. "I mean I would when Sung snores a little less so I can get more sleep" Chenle says. Jisung narrows his eyes. "You snore louder then me Le" he says back. "Here let me review for ya" Mark says. "So the spirit is this 20 year old something author named Oh Haebin, who came from a corrupted rich family who's known for bribery and tax invasion, plus fraud." Jaemin nods. "Yup. In a interview she did with the press, she explained that she used a pen name so she could avoid using her family's name to become popular. Apparently, she was very ashamed of her family, and didn't want to be associated with them." Donghyuck tuts. "I mean wouldn't you? Being part of a family that has a bad reputation must be embarrassing." </p>
<p>"Well here's the thing though" Jaemin says. "Her family was framed by their rival. It was discovered after she had passed." Jeno frowns. "So, Ms. Oh didn't even get to hear that her family's name get cleared before she died." The room turns silent. Unlike how it usually is on the surface, it was dead silent. No air conditioners were running, no cars were driving outside of the room they were in. Just quietude. Donghyuck clears his throat. "So uh how did she..You know." Jaemin gets what he's talking about and explains. "According to a news article, she died on a fishing boat accident. She was going to Dokdo and fell overboard and drowned." He looks at the time on his phone, then begins to organize his materials into a neat pile. "Her life wasn't the greatest" he says as he's cleaning up. "She failed as an author because none of her books were popular, then gave up and used her family's name. 'The Sad Mouse' must've been written after she gave up, considering how daunting it is." He puts the pile on the coffee table in front of him and stretches. "You seem pretty calm after researching all this bleak information by yourself" Mark says with concern. Jaemin looks at him and shrugs his shoulders. "Like I said, I've been doing this since middle school, I'm used to it." He gets up and swims over to the staircase.</p>
<p>"Plus, I experienced worse" Renjun hears him mutter.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The rest of the day rolls on until it was time to get to City Hall. </p>
<p>4:45, 15 minutes until the event was about to start. </p>
<p>The group gets ready to fight. Jeno and Mark grab their whistle and ring. Chenle and Jisung practice their elementals. Jaemin goes over the map of City Hall with Mr. Lee. Renjun gets his seaweed weapon and some potions. </p>
<p>Donghyuck stares at the shaman bells on the table.</p>
<p>"Use them." The merman looks up. "You'll never know when you need them" Renjun says. Donghyuck sighs. "I don't know. It's been like 6 months, and I haven't been able to use them correctly." Renjun picks up the shaman bells and puts them in his best friend's hands. "Taeil hyung must've dropped them off for a reason. He also said to use them in your own way. Think out of the box Hyuck." Donghyuck looks at Renjun with a hesitant expression, then at the bells in his hands. He looks over to where his father and Jaemin was. "Your dad would want you to use them too" Renjun says. "If anything, this will help you use your powers to the best of your ability." The human smiles when Donghyuck sighs and puts them into the hidden pocket of his hoodie. "I'll take them, but don't expect me to use them" Donghyuck says. Renjun chuckles. "It's your tool, use them however you like." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"Welcome Dream City! To the Annual Mer Festival!" </p>
<p>Jo Ahyoung's voice booms through the crowd in front of City Hall through the microphone on the podium. She smiles, and continues her speech. "Of course, this is your first year with the DokZuZhi isn't it? You must be very honored to have civilized people in charge of this year's festival. Though really, and I'm just being honest, do you really need a festival?" </p>
<p>No one in the crowd reacts. They don't cheer, they don't boo. They just watch the lady in the black Hanbok, insult them and their culture as she stands where their mayor use to be. "I thank you merpeople, for letting your city become the first spot in Neo City become the starting point of our new DokZuZhi empire! Soon, our organization will no longer just be a organization, but a city! Then, a country! Then all supernaturals and humans alike will be under our rule, the poisonous gas rule!" Jo Ahyoung scowls at the only reaction she gets from her crowd. A bunch of murmur and whispers among the people begun as soon as she mentioned world domination. </p>
<p>"SILENCE!" she yells through the mic. The murmur stops. She smiles again, and starts up her speech. </p>
<p>However, no word comes out of her mouth, as a snowball hits her directly in the face. </p>
<p>No one moves. Everyone watches as the snow disperses off of Jo Ahyoung's face into the water around her. The woman doesn't react much and only stands still until she feels all of the snow had fallen off. Then she encases a merman in the front row of the audience in a black bubble shield. </p>
<p>"Who threw that!?" she demanded through the microphone. "Who here has ice elemental powers!?" The people in the crowd look around at each other in search for the culprit. "If the person who threw that snowball does NOT give themselves up, I shall charge this shield with enough poisonous gas to suffocate this innocent merman!"</p>
<p>Panicked whispers start to arise upon Jo Ahyoung's threat. When the culprit does not show, the woman begins to bring up her other hand. Swirls of purple and black gas begins to circle around her hand. She waits a little longer before bringing the her hand to the bubble. The whispers turn into a buzz as people start to become more alarmed. </p>
<p>Right as Jo Ahyoung had her hand near the bubble, Jisung springs out from the crowd and shoots another snowball at the woman at her hand, smacking it backwards and missing the bubble hovering above her other hand. The fae shoots a icicle. It flies right in front of Jo Ahyoung's face and pops the bubble the merman is in. He unfolds from his position, and looks around before swimming back into the crowd where his family is. "Hi" Jisung greets with a hand wave. Jo Ahyoung widens her eyes. "You!" she shouts, pointing her finger at the younger. Her attention on him, doesn't last long however, as the agents on the platform suddenly fall onto the ground by something swimming at a fast speed. The thing gets onto the ground and kicks Jo Ahyoung's ankles, causing her to trip and fall onto the platform. "I'm here too you know" Jaemin says with a smug smile. He holds Jo Ahyoung's arms down.</p>
<p>"JISUNG NOW!"</p>
<p>Jisung begins to blast towards the platform using his favorite ice rocket boosters. When he arrives, Jaemin jumps off as Jisung throws a ice bomb into the air and slices it with a ice strike. The bomb explodes, covering the whole stage, and the people on it. He froze what he wanted to freeze, but he also, accidentally froze the people in the front row. "Next time buddy, next time" Jaemin says, patting Jisung on his shoulder. The younger only stares at the frozen mess in front of him, wondering what he did wrong this time. </p>
<p>Soon after though, Jo Ahyoung and her agents bursts the ice apart with their elemental. </p>
<p>Jaemin widen his eyes as the woman and her assistants swim over the crowd. He makes eye contact with her momentarily. Jo Ahyoung grows the same creepy grin her father had and shakes her head while giving out a tut. "You've grown up well, Na Jaemin" she grins, her eyes glowing a dark purple. Jaemin pretends not to hear it and tries to go after her. Jisung, did hear it, and tried to turn towards him for answers, but gets distracted by Jo Ahyoung's agents swarming down on them at a fast rate. Jaemin stops mid swim, and goes back down to the ground using his super speed. </p>
<p>"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" he shouts to the crowd. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the rest of the group, along with Oh Haebin, sneaks into the secret entrance in the hedge garden. </p>
<p>Quietly, the group flies over the hedge and to the vents. Renjun knocks out a security camera set up near them, while Mark inputs the code. When he opens the hatch door, Jeno blows his whistle if anyone is near. "There's three agents swimming to where we are right now from the porch. I think they saw the camera break" he reports. "Then hurry up let's go!" Donghyuck says. Oh Haebin swims into the hatch door, the boys following after. They close it right before the agents could turn the corner, and make it into the vents safely. </p>
<p>They advance to the air vent grate as quickly and silently as possible. This time, they have Mark check the perimeters with his ring. He makes a X signs with his arms, then pulls up the number 10 with his hands. He opens and closes them 2 times. </p>
<p>Shit, there's 20 people. </p>
<p>Not knowing what to do, the group share glances. They get startled by the sudden sound of the hatch door opening from the other end of the tunnel. "Well, we got nowhere to go now!" Renjun says a little louder. They're going to appear in a floor full of agents, there's no point of staying quiet anymore. </p>
<p>Oh Haebin bursts the lid off, and swims through,  with the rest of the group after her. The agents on the floor in front of them, turn around. They look behind them. The agents from the hatch are almost out of the vent. </p>
<p>"SWIM!" Mark yells. </p>
<p>Donghyuck uses his torpedo move and bulldozes the agents in front of them down, the bells in his hood jingling as he moves. Chenle encases the agents on the floor with the ground around them, and dodges a attack from another, by shrinking down. Jeno and Mark work together on fighting off ten other agents that had come down the stairs, using a combination of hand to hand combat and super speed and strength. Mark dodges a punch with his agility and lets Jeno catch the agent's fist and throw him against the pillar of the building. "Hopefully we don't get charged with property damage again" Mark says, and kicks a agent back down to the ground. "Thank you for saying WE" Jeno replies and turns into his wolf form to tackle two agents to the ground. Renjun uses his potions and seaweed to fend off two agents. He throws a slow down potion at a agent and trips the other using his seaweed whip. Then, he encases the agent under his potion's affect into a bubble and throws her into a wall. Behind him, he sense a agent coming up behind him and gets ready to fight them, but gets saved by Oh Haebin who spins around the agent in a water tornado and pushes him into three of his comrades coming down from the hallway to the right. "Nice" Renjun says, and high fives the water spirit with her tail. </p>
<p>The group continues fighting the agents in the building. However, the more they fight, the bigger the amount of agents becomes. "Go to the spirit lab! Follow Ms. Oh!" Jeno says before headbutting a agent unconscious. "We got this!" Chenle yells after, and gestures for Renjun and Donghyuck to go. They yell their thanks and follow Oh Haebin to the hallway on the left where the last door would lead them to the trapped spirits. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>When they arrived at the door, the earth and ice spirits were waiting for them. </p>
<p>Without a word, Oh Haebin began to fight with the earth spirit, leaving the ice spirit with Renjun and Donghyuck. "Great! Leave us the spikey one!" Donghyuck yells, and dodges a icicle from the ice spirit. Renjun swears he saw a unamused turn from Oh Haebin before she went back into her fight with the ice spirit.</p>
<p>He has a feeling he's going to be great friends with her when she revives. </p>
<p>The human snaps out of his thoughts when he almost gets hit by a spinning ice spirit headed towards him. If it weren't for Donghyuck's warning, Renjun wouldn't have pulled up his shield in time. "Huang, pay attention!" Donghyuck yells. "Sorry!" Renjun yells back, and brings down his shield. He grabs the ice spirit by its tail with his seaweed and brings it down to the floor. As it made contact, the ice spirit becomes slug like and slides up to the boys and tries freezing them to the ground. It doesn't get to though, when they move out of the way. </p>
<p>Renjun takes this chance when the ice spirit is confused to look for the door to the lab. When he spots it, he spots the pass code and groans before shielding himself from another icicle. "Ms. Oh! You don't happen to know the pass code to this door do you?" he asks. The water spirit turns around and shakes her head before using her probably favorite tornado move. "Think of a way please thanks!" Donghyuck yells. He was busy using his own elemental against the ice spirit. He spins around like a table top to avoid ice spikes, and attacks using his water orb and strikes. Renjun winces as he sees Donghyuck almost get stabbed in the arm by a sharp icicle, and tries to think of something. </p>
<p>Light bulb </p>
<p>"Hey over here!" Renjun calls out. The ice spirit turns around and throws a hail ball at Renjun. He uses his seaweed whip to hit it back, almost hitting the spirit. "Ms. Oh try fight by the door" he whispers. The water spirit turns around, confused. "Trust me!" he says after. Donghyuck gets what he's trying to do after seeing Renjun let the ice spirit back him up towards the wall. When he sees Oh Haebin fly up to the door, Donghyuck goes in between her and the earth spirit in order for it to stop where it is. "Try hit both of us!" Donghyuck taunts. The earth spirit complies, and sends boulders of rocks towards the merman and water spirit. Renjun looks and sees that the second part of his plan is working, he just needs to do one more thing and it should then work. "Hail? Is that all you got? How about a freeze attack instead! Freeze me to the wall you glorified snowball!" Renjun shouts. He hopes that was enough to anger the ice spirit, and it does. The ice spirit begins to charge a freeze attack to throw Renjun. The latter and Donghyuck share glances. They have to get the timing right, or else Renjun really is going to get frozen to the wall.</p>
<p>To make things easier for the both of them, Donghyuck waits for the earth spirit's largest boulder. When it sends it, Donghyuck stops it by creating a mini whirlpool by spinning his hands in a circle to stop it. Helping him, Oh Haebin spins around the whirlpool to make it stronger and lighter for Donghyuck to hold. He shoots a grateful smile towards the water spirit. "Get ready!" Renjun shouts. Donghyuck turns around and sees the ice spirit charge the freeze attack. "Let go!" Donghyuck yells. He and Oh Haebin move out of the side. Renjun puts up his shield, and shuts his eyes. His plan was a success, and the freeze attack froze the rock, to make it hard enough to crash into the door and open it towards the spirit lab. </p>
<p>"Go in!" Renjun says, and sets off a sedition potion to make the spirits fall asleep. He, and Donghyuck go in and gawk at the amount of spirits that were in the containers. The room was small, most likely it used to be a storage closet before it got turned into a lab. The containment rooms the spirits were in had little to no room, and were made out of hard metal. What made matters worse, was that there were some fire and lighting spirits in the containers, meaning if they go out of their doors they could die. </p>
<p>Oh Haebin doesn't gape with them, and goes to see her friends. All of them were swirling, and moving about, confused and frightened. "Don't panic! We're here to get you out of here!" Renjun says. Donghyuck looks around the containers and tries to open one of the doors, but groans. "What's up with the DokZuZhi and pass codes!?" he yells. Oh Haebin taps on him on the shoulder and points to a red button on the wall. "That must be used to open all of the containers in a emergency" Renjun says. "Then you get ready to bubble up the fire and lightning spirits, and I'll press the button when you're ready" Donghyuck replies. Renjun nods, and quickly goes around the containers to count how many spirits there were. Out of the 50 that were there, 10 of them were lightning spirits, 5 were fire. Oh Haebin helps him by highlighting each spirit so Renjun can do his job more efficiently. He puts a bubble half open against each container, so when the doors open, the spirits can immediately fly in. In the meanwhile, Donghyuck searches for papers on the spirits, and for any information on how the DokZuZhi were going to revive the spirits. </p>
<p>"They're ready!" Renjun says. Donghyuck gives the papers to Renjun and looks around for a rock. He finds a stone the earth spirit had thrown earlier and throws it against the glass that guarded the button. He presses the big red button, opening all of the doors of the containers, and setting off an alarm. The fire and lightning spirits immediately fall into their respective shields that automatically close up. "Follow us guys! We'll take you to the surface!" Donghyuck yells. The freed spirits nod their heads, thankful that these two strangers and their friend had released them from their prison. The merman shouts and quickly leads the water and wind spirits upstairs. Oh Haebin and Renjun follow them, while the human uses his telekinesis to move the bubbles the fire and lightning spirits are in. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Back in front of the staircase, Mark, Chenle, and Jeno managed to defeat most of the agents.</p>
<p>Thankfully they did, as they were running out of energy pretty quick. </p>
<p>"Let's get to the spirit lab!" Jeno says, in between his pants. Mark and Chenle answer wordlessly with a nod and a thumbs up and go to follow the wolf to the lab, when out of the blue, Jo Ahyoung and a couple of other agents materialize in front of them. </p>
<p>"Nah ah, ah" she says while wiggling a finger. "You're not going anywhere." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"Dad! Start the car!"</p>
<p>Mr. Lee pokes his head out of the windo and sees a onslaught of spirits swimming towards his pick up truck while following his son and his friend. He puts the key in and starts the engine. Renjun climbs onto the back of the truck and moves all of the fire spirits and the lightning spirits into the back with him. "Are you sure you can find them yourself?" he asks Donghyuck. The merman nods. "Of course, I'm a merperson, I'll find the mayor and them." </p>
<p>"But are you really sure?" a voice suddenly says.</p>
<p>Renjun, Donghyuck, and Mr. Lee all turn around to see Jo Ahyoung close behind them with four agents wither her, and three large black bubbles. She was smiling, but you can tell she was getting annoyed. All of the spirits cowered in their place when they see her. Oh Haebin is the only one who doesn't shelter herself, and stares at her captor. </p>
<p>Jo Ahyoung brings out a hand. "Give me back my spirits Lee Donghyuck, and I'll free the City Hall staff." Donghyuck puts his arms out to shield the spirits behind him. "Like I would give into that" he says. "Alright then" Jo Ahyoung says. She snaps her fingers. One of the bubbles pop, dropping Mark onto the floor. Two agents grab him by the arms and make him kneel in front of Donghyuck. The merman widens his eyes, his arms slowly lowering. "Give me my spirits, or your friends will make up for my lost agents!" Jo Ahyoung says. Another agent comes around and brings out a cleansing talisman from his pocket. Because vampires are half dead, anything that is meant to cleanse the dead could hurt them greatly. One tiny touch with his finger, and Mark could loose it whole. Renjun looks at Donghyuck, but the merman was frozen. It brings a genuine grin to Jo Ahyoung's face. </p>
<p>"I hope this makes things easier for you" Jo Ahyoung says. "HYUCK DON'T!!, JUST LEAVE!" Mark shouts. Jo Ahyoung glares at the vampire, then nods at her agent. The agent crouches down and uses the corner of the talisman on Mark's neck. Renjun looses feeling in his legs when he hears Mark's blood curling scream. When the agent stopped, there was a 2 inch burn from where the corner of the talisman had touched. "Would you like me to do the same to your other friends? Would that convince you?" Jo Ahyoung asks. Mark opens his mouth again, but Donghyuck stops him. "Fine, we'll give you the spirits." Renjun whips his head towards the merman. The latter looks back at him. Despite his tone, there wasn't fear in his eyes. He was planning something, but he can't think of what to do. </p>
<p>Then, something rushes past them. </p>
<p>Mr. Lee had gotten out of the car and had tackled one of the agents holding Mark down. Donghyuck and Renjun takes this chance to help Mark up from the ground. The human uses his seaweed whip to pop the two other bubbles open, letting Jeno and Chenle drop to the ground.</p>
<p>"GO! TAKE THE SPIRITS!" Mr. Lee shouts. "TAKE MY CAR!! HURRY!" A agent takes the offensive and pins him to the ground. He holds a gas ball near his face, but the merman kicks him in the crotch and rolls out. Renjun takes a last look at Mr. Lee before swimming towards the pick up truck with Jeno, Chenle, and Mark. He looks back. Donghyuck, Oh Haebin, and Jo Ahyoung were gone. "He went after her after she took Oh Haebin" Mark says. Renjun widens his eyes. "Then we have to help him!" Mark shakes his head. "He wouldn't want us to help. This is his fight. For now, we gotta get the spirits to the surface and rescue the City Hall folks." Mark turns towards Jeno and Chenle. "Go help Mr. Lee and go with him to City Hall. Renjun come with me to take the spirits." </p>
<p>"What about Donghyuck hyung?" </p>
<p>"We're just going to let him have this fight alone with Jo Ahyoung." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Donghyuck was momentarily distracted when his dad freed Mark. </p>
<p>He got worried, and tried to help him, but saw Jo Ahyoung bubble up Oh Haebin from the corner of his eye, then disappear. </p>
<p>The merman goes tries to go after her, but stops and considers to help his dad instead. The older merman gives him a glance from the ground. </p>
<p>"Go save her. I'll be fine."</p>
<p>Without saying a word to his friends (he trusts that they will be fine), Donghyuck takes off, swimming at a rate faster then he had before. He can feel his elemental spirit tingle throughout his body. He recognizes this feeling, this is what happens before he goes haywire. </p>
<p>This time, he is not going to hold back. </p>
<p>When Donghyuck found the pair, it was at one of the spirit reviving stations that Chenle had marked on his map. The group was planning to leave the stations alone for the police station to investigate, but life doesn't go the way you plan. </p>
<p>Haebin is a strong spirit, she's definitely more courageous then any of the other spirits they had revived. The water spirit is currently fighting Jo Ahyoung, taking advantage of her environment. She had put up a good fight, but alas was caught by the crazy woman and was shoved into a capsule that looked similar to the ones back at the hospital. </p>
<p>"You bitch! Why are you still trying!? Your family has been ruined years ago, why are you still fighting me!?" Donghyuck grips the rock he's hiding behind, his knuckles turning white. Haebin tries to burst the doors open, using strikes and even a tornado move, but it doesn't budge. "Once I'm done with you, you will be the lowest of the low in our ranks. You will be with the dogs, and you will regret fighting against me!" The machine starts to hum as Jo Ahyoung presses a button. Haebin stops fighting with the door. Her bright light blue color turns pale as she sees the control panel besides her glow up. Jo Ahyoung hovers her finger over her button. "You know, I took pity over you because I went through the same thing. My family was also ruined, and I suffered a life of embarrassment, and shame. Sure, that was the fault of another family and not my own, but it was still bad." She puts her hand on the capsule and leans into the glass, staring at Haebin. "But you disobeyed me too many times. No one, shall disobey anyone from the Jo family. Never, again." </p>
<p>Donghyuck torpedoes towards Jo Ahyoung and pushes her towards the ground before she could press the button. He strikes through the control panel, breaking it, which opened the doors of the capsule (so much for investigation. That's ok, there's three more). "You don't get to say anything about being ashamed until you truly experienced discrimination" he says. Jo Ahyoung gets up, and had half the mind the laugh. "You want to fight!? HUH!? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT!? COME AT ME THEN! I'M NOT STOPPING, UNTIL I HAD FILLED THIS CITY OF DREAD, WITH ELEMENTAL AGENTS AND POISON!" </p>
<p>"Bring it! I won't stop until you leave my home!" Donghyuck shouts. He torpedoes towards Jo Ahyoung. The woman dodges, and shoots a gas ball towards him. Donghyuck avoids it, and watches as the gas ball hits a branch of coral, disintegrating it. He swims upwads when another gas ball comes towards him, and shoots a wave back at her. They go on back and forth with attacks of their own, until Jo Ahyoung had cut the hidden pocket of Donghyuck's hoodie. His shaman bells float towards the ground without him knowing. Jo Ahyoung spots it first, and sends a spiral of gas towards Donghyuck to get him to move towards the side. It works and the woman goes after not him, but the bells sitting on the sand. Donghyuck notices what were in her hands and quickly feels for the bells in his hood as he panics. </p>
<p>"Why do you have these? Do you even have enough control to use these?" Jo Ahyoung laughs. Donghyuck looks at the bells, now not knowing what to do. "Why do you look so distressed? They're just bells!" The woman rings them near hear ear, then makes a face. "Ugh, these bells sound terrible" she comments. Donghyuck attempts to go after them while she talks, but Jo Ahyoung moves them out of his reach. "Oh no, you don't deserve these bells" she says. Jo Ahyoung begins a game of cat and mouse, as if she was playing with a baby. The bells would be in front of Donghyuck's face, then quickly brought away. They would be right near him, but then taken away from him. The woman who was tormenting him, was cackling as if this was the most entertaining thing on this Earth. "Goochie, goochie goo!" she taunts, waving the bells above Donghyuck's reach. </p>
<p>He hates this. He hates all of this. Why is he even trying to grab them? He doesn't even like to use them! Was it because they're not actually his, but Taeil's? Is it because it's just something nice to carry around? Or is it because he thinks he has a chance at them? </p>
<p>A chance? </p>
<p>A chance...</p>
<p>Donghyuck stops trying to reach for the bells, and swims back, making Jo Ahyoung raise an eyebrow. "Sure, take them" he says, crossing his arms. Jo Ahyoung smirks. "Really? You want me to take them? Are you sure you don't want to take your baby toy?" She rings them a second time, glowering at the sound it makes. Donghyuck nods. "Yeah sure, but first." A water whip develops from his hand and ties around the handle of the shaman bells like he had seen Renjun's seaweed whip done to other items (where did he get such tough seaweed??). He pulls on them with great force, making Jo Ahyoung let go of them and brings them to his hand. He rings them a third time, taking a note of the sour expression Jo Ahyoung makes. "Let me learn how to use them once properly before you take them though" he says with a smirk. </p>
<p>"Stop ringing those horrible bells!" Jo Ahyoung shouts. Donghyuck stops shaking the bells. "Why? Like you said, they're just bells." He tilts his head. "And why try to take over the world? You know, every person who tried to take over the world were either just selfish, dumb, or are not brave enough to admit their losses. Just take the L Jo Ahyoung! You lost!" Jo Ahyoung's eyes flash dark purple. "I have not lost! WE have not lost! You are just bluffing!" Donghyuck scoffs and rolls his eyes. "No I'm not, you lost something didn't you? You lost a fight so bad that you decided to take your revenge on the entire world." </p>
<p>"I did not!" </p>
<p>"Yes you did!" </p>
<p>Why does Donghyuck feel like he's fighting with his sister when they were in high school. They had these back and forth fights up until they graduated. It's like Jo Ahyoung has the mentality of a 15 year old. </p>
<p>"No, I did not!" Jo Ahyoung launches a line of gas towards Donghyuck. The merman swims up to avoid it. "COME BACK HERE! HOW DARE YOU SAY I LOST ANY FIGHTS!?!" Jo Ahyoung screams. She swims up, Donghyuck swims down. Jo Ahyoung sends a large gas ball towards Donghyuck as he swims back down towards the ground. He looks back, and panics at how fast the ball was traveling towards him. He gets to the ground and turns around. Donghyuck puts his hands up to brace for impact from the ball that was centimetres from his face. Nothing happens, cause a certain light blue ghost began to swim around the ball to stop it from hitting her friend. Donghyuck smiles and moves out of the way, letting Haebin stop and let the gas ball hit another part of the sand. </p>
<p>"COME BACK HERE! I AM NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!" </p>
<p>Donghyuck and Haebin share glances. Then, they quickly swim away from Jo Ahyoung, staring a goose chase with the deranged woman. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Renjun watched as the last fire spirit pops out of its bubble and flies away. He gets back into the truck, and Mark starts to head towards City Hall. He looks at the burn mark on Mark's neck. "I'm fine Renjun don't worry" Mark says. "I'm just worried about how Hyuck is going to react to this." Renjun chuckles. "Oh he'll be extra worried I'm sure." Mark laughs back. The truck stays silent until Dream City comes into view. Mark sighs.</p>
<p>"I hope he's safe." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The door to the prison cell squeaks open. The mayor of Dream City looks up and sees a young werewolf smiling at him, reaching out his hand towards him. "Hello sir! We're here to save you!" </p>
<p>Who knew that the City Hall administration were held behind a secret door on the same floor as the spirit lab? </p>
<p>"Mr. Hong!" The mayor looks up as Jeno helps him out and widens his eyes at his fellow officers, unscathed and safe. They had been in different cells away from each other. He hugs all of them, and checks to see if they were ok. Then, he turns towards Mr. Lee. "Sungho, I knew you would come back for us" Mr. Hong says. Mr. Lee smiles and bows his head. "I wouldn't have came if it weren't for my son and his friends" he says truthfully. The mayor looks at Jeno and Chenle. The pair give him a bow, he gives a bow back. "Thank you, for saving us and our city" he says. Jeno and Chenle go back up. "It's nothing Mr. Hong. Excuse us, but we're going to have to move you towards somewhere else safe since, right now the outside is a wreck" Jeno says with a endearing eye smile. Caught off guard by Jeno's words yet happy expression, the mayor shares glances with his administration, then nods his head. "Alright! Follow us sir!" Chenle exclaims, and leads them towards a safer part of the building. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Jaemin and Jisung were in a middle of a fight while the others were doing their jobs. </p>
<p>Because more and more agents had came out of the building, they didn't have the chance to convince the population of Dream City to get together in a uprising. </p>
<p>The pair rests their hands on their knees while panting after defeating the last agent together. Jaemin looks up at the crowd who have been watching them for the past 30 minutes. No reaction, and they had no reaction since Jo Ahyoung disappeared. "Tough crowd" Jaemin thinks. </p>
<p>"Hyung, what do we do" Jisung says, getting up. Jaemin shakes his head. He doesn't know how he's supposed to convince these people into a uprising as a non-merperson. He looks up and notices that there wasn't another agent coming out of the building. He gestures for Jisung to follow him up to the podium, this is their only chance to try do something before someone else tries to fight them again. </p>
<p>Jaemin presses the button on the mic, and waits to catch his breath. Then, he looks up and gets startled to see all of Dream City, boring their eyes onto him (no wonder Donghyuck likes to stare at people time to time). He clears his throat. "Uh..Hi. My name is Na Jaemin, and this is my friend Park Jisung." Jisung waves his hand as he is mentioned. "I know we just sorta, pummeled a bunch of agents in front of you all, and are probably why we just did that instead of just going away." God this feels awkward. It also doesn't help when this audience doesn't even blink their eyes while their staring into Jaemin's soul. "We stayed back, because we wanted to convince you.." Here we go. </p>
<p>"...to come together as a city in uprising against the DokZuZhi." </p>
<p>The stares become less interested as soon as Jaemin mentions a uprising. He even sees some people starting to leave. "WAIT!" he calls out, hoping that would somehow do something. "Look, I know we're not the right people to lead a uprising, but you have to know that we are also friends with Lee Donghyuck, a citizen here in Dream City." People still try to leave, probably because they aren't held in this crowd against their will anymore. "As soon as he heard that the DokZuZhi had taken over the city, he immediately tried to find out ways to take him down. Even though he got kicked out his own family, he still tried to work out a plan that would for sure work." Jaemin and Jisung share worried glances as they see more people leaving. The crowd is getting less and less. "He loves this city, and not only he, but all of us believe that the people of this city are able to stand up together and fight a common enemy. You can't give up, you can't give your hope up. There is a chance, you just need to get up and grab it!" </p>
<p>"And so what!? What if it fails!?" a man yells from the crowd. "It won't fail!" Jisung yells back. "That's a lie! We always lose!" another woman shouts. "Yeah! And why would we bother to care about Lee Donghyuck anyway? He's just like his father, he's going to give up on us like Lee Sungho did!" </p>
<p>"You might wanna take that back Mr.!" Mark suddenly shouts from the back of the crowd. He got off a pick up truck with Renjun. "Look up!" </p>
<p>Everyone does, and gasps.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh my, what is this? A cliffhanger? </p>
<p>I mean I always do cliffhangers, but this has got to be the most mysterious cliffhanger of all lolol </p>
<p>Thank you guys for reading this chapter! See y'all next week! &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0042"><h2>42. 27. Water</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Donghyuck and the Dreamies continue to fight to defeat Jo Ahyoung</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>huhuhuhuhu</p><p>Welcome back! </p><p>I have a short announcement to make...</p><p>I am sure many of you are aware of the recent movement made to create awareness for Asian hate crimes and xenophobia, and as a Asian American, I hate to see our elders, and young people alike to get hurt just because of how they look.</p><p>People must understand that our community is beautiful and diverse. Asia isn't a small continent you know, we are not all the same.</p><p>I have created a fic based off of this series called Sea Pigs and Speciesism, with resources and links that provide bits of Asian American hate history, and ways to help and donate.</p><p>I am lucky enough to have grown up in a community filled with acceptance for all ethnicity and race, however there are people in this country, and other parts of the world who aren't so lucky, and have to live in constant fear and worry from being assulted, mocked, or even killed. Everyone's stories are different, and I recommend listening to them.</p><p>Please spare like 5 minutes to look at the links, you don't have to read the story.</p><p>
  <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30254736">Sea Pigs and Speciesism</a>
</p><p>And as always, enjoy this chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Donghyuck was being chased by Jo Ahyoung. </p><p>Except, it looks like it was on purpose??</p><p>The crowd begins to whisper among themselves, looking at how Donghyuck avoids gas balls being shot from Jo Ahyoung's hands, and attacks back with a water strike. The doors at the City Hall burst open, taking the people's attention off of Donghyuck, and at the three other agents coming down the stairs. It caught Jaemin and Jisung off guard. They try to fight back, but the agents push Jisung down the stairs, and take Jaemin by the arms. </p><p>"JAEM!" Renjun shouts. He and Mark swim upwards above the crowd to try get to Jaemin as he's being dragged away into the building. They stop though, when they see Dongsook rise from the crowd and throw a potion at one of the agents. The agent falls limp to the ground, making his co worker panic. "Lee Dongsook! What are you doing?" her mother calls out from below. She looks at Renjun, and Mark, then up at her brother. She eyes her mother on the ground. "I want to be as stupid as Hyuckles for once" is what she says, before using her brother's torpedo move towards the front and punches a agent in the face. She helps Jisung up, and Renjun and Mark help Jaemin up when they get there. "Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" Renjun asks, checking for any injuries. "I'm fine, don't worry" Jaemin answers with a smile. </p><p>After being sure that Jisung and Jaemin were ok, Dongsook goes up to the microphone and speaks. "Aren't you people tired of just not doing anything? I sure am! If my brother is brave enough to be chased by that bitch, then we should be brave enough to fight back too!" She eyes everyone in the crowd, making sure they're paying attention. "We all don't like what the people on the surface says about us, so how about instead of making it true, let's prove them wrong by using our strengths! We are merpeople! We are the people of the sea! Let us show them our power!" </p><p>Another set of agents bursts through the doors again. This time, it was every agent Jo Ahyoung had brought down with her. The boys were ready this time and were able to fight back, with the addition of Dongsook by their side. She doesn't have an elemental power, as elemental powers in merpeople rarely appear and are usually set in on one family member (scientists are still trying to figure out why), so she uses her potions and hand to hand combat skills, being a Underwater Magic major, and president of the Sea Martial Arts team (Donghyuck had once said she can kick all of their asses under a minute). She avoids the punch of a agent, and throw her over her shoulder towards the ground, then avoids a kick from a agent next to her. She throws a blind potion at him, but gets punched off of the stage by another agent into the crowd. That agent, jumps off of the stage to strike her, but gets smacked from the side by Ms. Lee. "Stay away from my daughter, and stay away from our city!" she shouts and helps Dongsook up. </p><p>When Renjun got knocked off of the stage himself, another merperson from the crowd blocked a blow from a agent and defended him. The human gets up and notices that slowly, one by one, the people of Dream City started to go up against the agents and beat them down. Sooner or later, there were no more agents for the boys to fight. They watch as the crowd, no longer had just stood there and watch, but to come upon themselves to stand up for themselves and prove that they are stronger then what people think. </p><p>.</p><p>Donghyuck didn't mean to lead Jo Ahyoung back to City Hall, but after seeing his city standing up against the agents, he's glad that he did.</p><p>Jo Ahyoung however, wasn't. </p><p>She stopped mid swim and stared at the fight below. Each and every one of her agents were getting pummeled and beaten by the so called "Inferior species." She began to shake her head slowly.</p><p>"No, no, NOOOO!!!" </p><p>Donghyuck and Haebin wince at how loud Jo Ahyoung's voice boomed. She whips her head towards Donghyuck, her eyes dark as an abyss. "You" she says, pointing towards the merman. "You, MUST MAKE UP FOR WHAT I HAVE LOST!" At that, Jo Ahyoung sends a large trial of dark smoke towards Donghyuck. He widens his eyes and swims upwards to avoid it. The smoke hits the podium of the City Hall building, and disintegrates it entirely. "Find my friends" he tells Haebin. The water spirit nods her head, and quickly swims out from the area to find the group. </p><p>Another stream is launched. Donghyuck counter attacks it with a mini tornado. It worked, but the streams were much stronger then the regular gas balls Jo Ahyoung had been throwing. To save his energy, and to stall for time to think of a plan, Donghyuck decides to swim away for now. "COME BACK HERE YOU INSIGNIFICANT PEASANT!" Jo Ahyoung shouts, and swims after him. </p><p>They kept swimming into the depths of the ocean, away from the city. Donghyuck kept dodging all of Jo Ahyoung's smoke streams without attacking back.</p><p>"HYUCK!"</p><p>The merman looks down. His friends were swimming with him, lower at the ground with Haebin. "Stay there!" he yells back. He looks back towards Jo Ahyoung and swims down when another stream of smoke comes at him. His friends try to help Donghyuck, but couldn't catch up with Jo Ahyoung as she was as fast as a merperson with a powerful tail. "Fuck, I gotta think of something quick!" Donghyuck stops and dodges another stream. He tries to attack, but compared to the smoke streams it did little to scare his opponent. "Your BUBBLES, are no match for my POWERFUL SMOKE!!" Jo Ahyoung exclaims with fury. She starts to produce a large dark purple ball of poisonous smoke, then begins shooting individual spheres of the ball at Donghyuck like a machine gun. Not able to get onto the offensive side, Donghyuck begins to swim away, this time, he's being chased upwards, not towards the side. </p><p>He manages to swim faster then Jo Ahyoung since she has to use her poison ball, but the spheres were shooting at him at a fast rate. He turns back towards the front, and notices that he's getting closer and closer towards the surface of the water. </p><p>He gets an idea. </p><p>Donghyuck takes a deep breath, then starts to torpedo towards the surface of the water. Jo Ahyoung quickens her speed once she has seen that Donghyuck has quicken his. The merman could feel his energy run out as he feels the light of the sun on his skin grow, but he doesn't give up, and he doesn't dare to think of giving up. Donghyuck spins faster, and eventually, makes it out of the water. </p><p>Because he was so fast, Donghyuck had practically shot into the air. His tail immeaditly turns back into his legs as soon as they feel the oxygen on them. Quickly, before he drops back into the water,  Donghyuck manipulates a wave to catch him, and waits for Jo Ahyoung to pop up. He doesn't see any spheres coming out of the water, nor a head of black shining hair. "Shit" he mutters. His plan may have failed. Donghyuck brings the wave closer to where he had came out of to check if the woman was going to come out. He looks for a couple seconds, then goes back when the dark purple orbs began to blast out of the water. After them came out Jo Ahyoung's head. She shoots the spheres at Donghyuck from where she is, her hair shining under the sun due to being under the water for so long. Donghyuck drops the wave from under him, and jumps back into the water. His legs turn back into his magnificent red tail, and lets him swim back towards the bottom of the ocean. Jo Ahyoung tries to go after him, by going back into the water, but drops her smoke ball when she covers her mouth and nose. </p><p>"Can't breathe can ya?" Donghyuck says to her. "You can't go back into the water after you went up to the surface. That's not how underwater breathing potions work you know." Jo Ahyoung widens her eyes. She tries to shoot a gas ball at Donghyuck, but ends up running out of air, and swims back to the surface to breathe. Not letting her come back down, Donghyuck swims up towards the surface again using his torpedo and rushes out of the water, letting the wave catch him again as his legs come back. "Detective Jung will be waiting for you at the beach" Donghyuck says, and manipulates a large wave to push Jo Ahyoung towards the beach, where the Neo City police would be waiting for her.</p><p>He did it.</p><p>He defeated Jo Ahyoung.</p><p>.</p><p>The crowd had cheered as the group swam back to the podium. They chanted Donghyuck's name as he came up to the microphone. "Thank you, but please also cheer for my friends!"</p><p>"And, my dad." </p><p>"He was the one that guided us through our plan making process. Please know that he never gave up on the city completely. He wanted to help, but decided to wait for other people to work with him as he couldn't go against the DokZuZhi alone." Donghyuck looks towards his dad as he stood next to the mayor and the rest of the City Hall administration. He smiled back at his son, and nodded at him to keep going. Donghyuck turns back. "Dream City, is free!" </p><p>The crowd cheers again. </p><p>But not for long. </p><p>Not even a minute after Donghyuck spoke, a swarm of revived agents had erupted from behind City Hall. There must've been at least a hundred of them that had came up. All were different elementals, with the exception of lightning, fire, or poisonous gas. The crowd was no longer cheering, but gasping. The people on the platform were no longer smiling, but shocked. "Who dares to say that Dream City is free? You are forgetting that Jo Ahyoung's elemental army still lives!" a wind elemental speaks from the front. They don't give the people enough time to react and swarm in on them. The crowd disperses, swimming for their lives, and forgetting that they literally fought regular agents themselves. The group jumps into action, while Mr. Lee and the police force get the mayor and his staff to safety in the City Hall building. </p><p>A revived earth spirit comes down and attacks Jaemin from the back by blocking his path with a risen block. The hybrid turns around and ducks to avoid a boulder flying towards him. "I swear to god" he mutters and uses his super speed to swim out from the agent's line of view. The agent swims to follow him, but gets blocked by another risen wall, manipulated by Chenle. "'Scuse us" Jisung says from behind him and rips off his collar, making the earth spirit dissolve into dark yellow orbs.</p><p>Jeno fights a revived water spirit with Oh Haebin, and lets the agent attack him while Haebin attacks them back. "Fight me properly you mutt!" the agent yells and entraps Jeno in a water orb. Oh Haebin attacks the agent with a mini tornado to push him back, but gets blown away from a wind spirit agent nearby. The water agent turns his attention back to the wolf when he gets rid of Oh Haebin, but gets tripped over a tail before he got to do anything. The water orb drops Jeno, and into Dongsook's arms. "When I imagined one of us being in each other's arms, I didn't expect it to be like this" Dongsook says. She let's Jeno down, and gives him a salute before swimming off to fight another agent. The wolf doesn't say anything else, but continues fighting with a blush forming on his cheeks. </p><p>Mark and Renjun work together against a ice agent, by picking at her. While Renjun defends himself from her attacks with his shield and whip, Mark confuses her by swimming around her with his super speed, and attacks her from behind using his hand to hand combat so that Renjun can get onto the offensive. Eventually, the ice agent figures out their strategy, and freezes Mark from behind so that he cannot distract her anymore. Then, the ice agent goes to grab Renjun's seaweed whip and pull him towards her. She freezes his feet to the ground and looks him in the eye. "It's nice to see you again" she says with a grin. Her icy hair crackles with blue lighting bits, and the colors of her eye change to a electric blue. Renjun recognizes her as the hybrid spirit from the District U. "You, you've been revived" Renjun says, with wide eyes. The grin of the hybrid spirit grows as she pulls back with her free hand to generate a ice sphere with lightning bolts dancing around it. She gets ready to throw it at the human, but disperses into yellow and white orbs, the neon orbs immeaditly disintegrating. The ice around Renjun's feet melts. As the orbs clear up, Jaemin is seen with the collar of the hybrid spirit, his eyes, yellow as a wolf's eyes should be, and his chest, panting. Renjun swims up to hug him, and looks down at the collar in his hand. "Keep it, we might need it" Renjun says. Jaemin nods, but doesn't put it away. The human takes the collar and stuffs it into left pocket of Jaemin's pants. "It's ok, I'm ok. Did you get hurt?" he asks. Jaemin shakes his head, then looks up. "Are you sure you're fine?" he asks. Renjun nods. "I'm safe." </p><p>There were too many agents to fight. Ultimately, 8 agents had started to chase the group and Oh Haebin out of the city while the rest continued their fight Dream City's police force and citizens. </p><p>The agents chase the group until a 9th agent had stopped in front of them and manipulated the ground to push them up towards the surface. "JUMP OFF!!" Donghyuck shouts. They all swim off of the raised ground and try swim back down, but are attacked by icicles flying upwards towards them. Renjun tells the group to huddle towards him. He makes a shield around them and lets Oh Haebin create a tornado to push them towards the ground. When they reached the bottom, Renjun pops the shield, immeaditly getting the group into a fight with each agent. </p><p>Donghyuck began to fight with a plant agent. The agent summons seaweed from the ground to grow and grab Donghyuck by the tail. The merman tries to swim, but had to fight against the thick seaweed holding onto his tail. He notices seaweed growing to come grab him from the side from his peripheral, and uses his torpedo move to twist himself out of the seaweed. It works, and the seaweed grabs empty space as Donghyuck swims out. The plant agent grunts in frustration, and tries to grab Donghyuck again by sprouting out more seaweed. Donghyuck avoids them by swimming around them, and then attacks back, by pushing the water in front of him against the agent, knocking him down. The plant agent falls onto the floor, and disperses into green orbs when Jisung grabs his collar. </p><p>"Hyung are you ok?!" he shouts. "Yeah! I'm gucci!" Donghyuck shouts back. Jisung gives a thumbs up. He gets startled, when suddenly the ground below him gets lifted up at a fast rate, towards the surface. He looks down and sees a earth agent pushing up from the terrain. The fae panics, and uses his ice boosters to fly off of the block, but almost gets hit by block from the ground. Boulders begin to fly up towards him from the land below, making Jisung maneuver through them. He defends himself by hitting the boulders back with his ice elemental. From the ground, Chenle gets knocked onto the ground by a wind agent, and notices Jisung fighting off gigantic pieces of rocks by himself. "Sungie!" Chenle shouts and avoids another wind attack by getting up and swimming towards the earth agent, knocking him out with a taste of his own medicine. "Let's go! Earth versus earth!" Chenle shouts, and throws a boulder of his own towards the agent. </p><p>Jisung notices Chenle fighting off the earth agent. The boulders stop coming towards him, allowing him to drop his guard a little and swim back towards the bottom. During his fight, the earth agent sees Jisung coming back down. "Sorry kid, I'm afraid we gotta put this on hold." He entraps Chenle by manipulating the ground to rise against his arms, then throws a large boulder towards Jisung. "NO!" Chenle shouts, and breaks free from his rocky hold. </p><p>It was too late though. The boulder had caught Jisung off guard and pushed him out of the water, and into the air. The fae looks around while he is out the water for something to hold onto, but falls back into the water before he gets the chance too. He prepares for impact by getting into a a fetal position. Instead of dropping into water however, Jisung drops into a bubble Nancy made instead. He uncurls himself and looks around, and notice the big fish staring at him. "Thank you Nancy! Good fishie! Good!" He cheers. Nancy lets out a few bubbles before swimming towards the bottom and knocking the earth agent out, letting Chenle rip his collar off. "Never underestimate us! Cause we got a celestial goldfish on our side!" </p><p>The fighting moves closer, and closer to the beach every single time a agent dissolves. The second person to get kicked out of the water is Renjun. Instead of a boulder, Renjun was pushed out by a wind attack by the last agent. Jaemin widens his eyes, and swims with Nancy to catch him from when he falls back into the water. The human does, but he's in his shield when he drops back in. "We're right by the shore!" Renjun yells from inside his bubble, then pops it. He swims to Jisung and pops the bubble Nancy for him and takes his hand to swim out of the water. The rest of the group had to follow them back out, as the wind agent kept pushing them further, and further out from the ocean. </p><p>The people around the beach scattered around when Renjun and Jisung practically flopped out of the water like fish. Yoonoh, Kun, Doyoung, Taeyong, and Taeil, get up from the sand when they see the rest of the group and Oh Haebin make it out of the water. Because they were underwater for so long, the water had weighed the group down, making it hard for them to stand up. Though for the wind spirit, she had flown out of the water, and sent a large tornado to suck them into. "Here! Dry yourselves with this!" she shouts. "No thank you, we're fine!" Jeno shouts back.</p><p>From the side, Doyoung and Taeyong come to their aid and fight back the wind agent. Taeyong sends a fire ball towards the wind agent, making her waver and swerve until she looses control of the tornado. Kun goes to stop it by throwing a ice potion, freezing the tornado. It falls by its side, destroying the poor bench that had met its fate by sitting under it. </p><p>While his hyungs fight, Donghyuck helps his friends up from the sand. He feels something whizz past him at a fast rate, and looks back to where it came from. It was Jo Ahyoung, drenched in her Hanbok, with several other revived agents behind her. She brings up a finger and points it at Donghyuck. "We are not finished" she says in a almost distorted tone. "When are we ever going to catch a break" Renjun mutters, as he and the others get up and go to fight the agents, leaving Jo Ahyoung with Donghyuck. The woman uses a gas strike against the merman, pushing him back as he defends himself with his own water strikes. </p><p>"You don't have the upper hand! We're out of the water!" she says, practically laughing like a maniac. Donghyuck scoffs. "Yeah, but you're forgetting that we're right near it!" He manipulates the water next to him to trip Jo Ahyoung, then hold her up in a water orb. Jo Ahyoung fights back by breaking out of her orb with her acidic gas and pushes a wave of smoke towards Donghyuck. "Be careful not to spread it towards the city!" Taeil shouts from the sidelines. He wasn't fighting, probably because he's the last resort to turn to. Donghyuck creates a wall of water to catch the smoke, then folds it into a sphere and throws it against Jo Ahyoung. The woman jumps up to avoid it, the water sphere going towards Taeyong. "HYUNG! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Donghyuck shouts. Taeyoung turns around, and yelps as he jumps to the side to avoid the smoky water ball coming towards him. It hits the lighting agent he was fighting instead, giving him a chance to rip off her collar. </p><p>The pushing begins again, as Jo Ahyoung begins to throw her gas and smoke towards Donghyuck, the merman catching it with water then throwing it back at the woman as if they were playing catch. The people on the street near them, began to run away as Yoonoh and the rest of the Neo City police tell them to evacuate. Any time Donghyuck deflects the smoke or gas ball, it hits a tree and dissolves it into dust. When it hits the sand, it burns it, making it hot to touch. "I have to shield the ocean from it!" Donghyuck thinks.</p><p>Sooner or later, Jo Ahyoung had reached the upper hand and managed to trip Donghyuck back with a smoke whip. The merman falls on his back against the sand, and gets held down by a flying Jo Ahyoung, who pins him down. His shaman bells fly out of his hood, and hits the sand above him.  "NOW, YOU SHALL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES! UNDERSTAND TO NEVER MESS WITH THE JO FAMILY AGAIN!!" she shouts. Both of her hands were holding Donghyuck down. Smoke was starting to grow fro her hands. It burns Donghyuck immensely, but it doesn't do enough to kill him. He realizes that Jo Ahyoung was trying to kill him slowly. "YOUR CITY WILL FALL TO ITS KNEES, YOU USELESS MERPEOPLE, ARE TOO HIGH NOSED TO REALIZE THAT YOU ARE WEAK, AND THAT YOU WILL NEVER WIN AGAINST A SUPERIOR SPECIES LIKE US! NEVER IN THE PRESENT OR THE FUTURE!" Donghyuck keeps in the screams of pain, tears rolling down his cheek. He eyes the shaman bells next to him, and tries to think of a way to get on the offensive. "I can't..I can't reach the handle!" he thinks. He let's out a scream when Jo Ahyoung presses her hands harder onto his shoulders. The burn is getting to his skin, he can feel it melt. Sooner or later, Jo Ahyoung is going to burn his muscles, then his bones. "Think! Lee Donghyuck think!" He looks towards the bells. "Use them! It's your tool! How are you going to use them!? How? HOW!?" His eyes stick to the handle, then as time went on, they went up to the bells.</p><p>
  <i>"Just carry them around with you. It's possible to use them in your own way instead of the standard way."</i>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <i>"Think outside of the box when you need to use the tools."</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"These are yours, so make it yours."</i>
</p><p>Think outside of the box..</p><p>Donghyuck's stare on the bells harden. He furrows his eyebrows as he concentrates on them. "Move, move, move!" Little by little, the bells start to shake. Donghyuck stares harder, his eyes turning dark blue as he focuses further on the bells. They begin shake more aggressively, their jingling sound becoming louder, and louder. The pain isn't the main target for the merman anymore, it's the bells. "These are mine, I'm going to make them mine." </p><p>The bells shake even harder. </p><p>"I don't have to use the handle" </p><p>They begin to separate from the handle.</p><p>"Cause that's not how I use them." </p><p>"GAHH! THAT HORRID SOUND!" Jo Ahyoung shouts. She takes her hands off of Donghyuck and uses them to cover her ears. "MAKE THEM STOP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THOSE BELLS ANYMORE!!" </p><p>Donghyuck takes this chance, and reaches out his arms. The bells fly off of the handle, water flowing after them as they came to his hand. The merman gets up from the sand and lets the bells circle around his hand. He takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes, then closes his hand into a fist to stop them. He opens them. The bells stopped mid air in a bunch, then spread out when Donghyuck opens his hand. He smiles. Jo Ahyoung uncovers her ears and tries to attack Donghyuck while he plays with his new tool. Donghyuck spots the wall of smoke speeding towards him, then uses the bells to cut through the smoke. Dark purple orbs float up to the sky as Donghyuck makes eye contact with Jo Ahyoung. He wraps the wall of smoke with the water coming out from his bells, dissolving it further. He stands up straight, the bells hovering over his open hand. </p><p>"I won't allow you to take over Dream City, or Neo City! You have done nothing but manipulate and torture my people! Leave or suffer the consequences!"</p><p>Donghyuck uses the bells to gather the water from the ocean next to him, to surround Jo Ahyoung in a opened sphere. The woman tries to throw her gas balls and smoke attacks, but they keep ending up dissolving into dark purple orbs. "NO! LET ME GO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! I MUST AVENGE MY FAMILY!" she shouts from inside of her cage. "Then do it without hurting other people who weren't involved!" Donghyuck yells back, and sends the cage towards the main part of the beach to where Yoonoh and his coworkers are for sure there to arrest her and throw her to prison. </p><p>He watches the water sphere to make sure it gets to where he wants it to be, then smiles when it does. </p><p>Then, he blacks out. </p><p>.</p><p>Donghyuck fought in a secluded area, but his shaman bell awakening didn't get unnoticed. </p><p>Because his friends where there. </p><p>They were running to go get him when they heard his scream, then stopped midway when they watched Donghyuck rip Jo Ahyoung's wall of smoke like a hot knife slicing through butter. </p><p>They were also there to pick him up when he had fainted. </p><p>The other agents had dissolved, both on the surface and under. Jo Ahyoung was arrested and thrown into a special vehicle made for magical and powerful criminals and was taken to one of the strongest prisons in Neo City. Dream City is saved.</p><p>For real this time. </p><p>Right now, Renjun and the others were waiting in the emergency room while Doyoung and the other doctors were checking on Donghyuck's condition. Dongsook, and her parents came from the water to go see if he was ok and was waiting in the emergency room with them. The human looks at Mark. The vampire was pacing back and forth, on the verge of tears. Renjun sighs and lets Jaemin hug him by wrapping a arm around his shoulders. "He'll be ok, he's Donghyuck, he's much stronger then you think" Jaemin whispers, rubbing his arm.</p><p>Renjun knew that.</p><p>But Donghyuck isn't invincible. </p><p>An hour passes by, and Doyoung comes out to them. </p><p>Mark stops pacing around. Renjun and Jaemin look up. Chenle, Jisung, and Jeno face Doyoung. The Lee's get up from their seats. Doyoung takes a moment to catch his breath, it looked like he ran from Donghyuck's room, and looks up. </p><p>He smiles. </p><p>"He's going to be alright. The gas burn luckily didn't reach his muscles, so they're not damaged. He's going to have to stop spirit hunting for at least a month before he can move again, but he's going to be just fine." </p><p>Donghyuck's mother breaks down into a happy cry. Mr. Lee hugs his wife and daughter, and laughs a relieved chuckle. Renjun sighs, then smiles, his friends following that action after. "When can we see him?" Mark asks. Doyoung looks at the clock. "We're going to have to wait for the magic medicine to take place to help Donghyuck heal, but you'll see him soon."</p><p>"Oh thank you Dr. Kim! Thank you!" Mrs. Lee says, while bowing. Doyoung bows back, saying it was nothing. "Your son is a fighter. He's not going to give up in anything. I should know since I argue with him a lot." Mr. Lee chuckles.</p><p>"That's my son alright." </p><p>.</p><p>It's a interesting crab.</p><p>It was a magical crab that's why. Its shell is a mixture of dark blue, purple, and pink. It's claws look like they're covered in glitter.</p><p>And it's eyes.</p><p>Oh god the eyes.</p><p>Why does everything under water have gigantic eyes.</p><p>Renjun and Jaemin only stand there, and stare at the crab. They watch as it sits under its lamp, watching a kid who's crying over the spilled ice cream on his tail. It looks at the couple with one eye by turning it, then turns back to watch the kid. </p><p>Jaemin slowly brings up his camera and takes a picture. </p><p>"Don't tell me you want to have a crab like that as a pet" Donghyuck says, as he comes around with Mark. Renjun and Jaemin shake their head. "No, no, Pangxie would rather have a Mantis Shrimp as a friend (she made it clear multiple times that the crabs she used to live with are bitches). It's just this crab is.. so memorizing." Donghyuck rolls his eyes and looks at the crab behind the glass. The crab turns its eye again at the two other people who came to join the couple staring at it, then turns it back. "It is pretty" Mark says, staring at the crustacean. "Don't get sucked in too! Come on, guys I told Jisung we could get ice cream from the ice cream dude" Donghyuck says, dragging the three to leave the poor crab alone. </p><p>A month later, Donghyuck had successfully healed thanks to Doyoung's and Taeil's efforts. At the moment, the group are currently on their winter break, and are visiting the Dream City Zoo as Donghyuck wanted to take them when they had first visited the city. Everything had went back to normal fairly quick, and the mayor had resigned, possibly because he was ashamed for letting the city get taken over. The city had voted their new mayor to be Donghyuck's dad, who despite also letting the city fall into DokZuZhi hands, made it up to the people by making the city more alive then it was before, by replacing the dying colored lights with new, brighter ones, having another Mer Festival to make up for the previous one, and construct a building that would allow students and citizens alike to learn self defense and how to use their own elemental and magic skills. </p><p>Donghyuck and his friends are seen as heroes in the city, but they don't let that get to their heads. They just want to be treated as ordinary people, going around the zoo while eating ice cream and laughing at Jisung for his spilled cone. </p><p>"Why are we eating ice cream in the winter anyway? It doesn't make sense" Jisung says. He munches a part of his cone and crunches it in annoyance while Chenle continues to laugh and squeak beside him, pointing at the poor peach ice cream on the floor. His hyungs continue to laugh too. Renjun shares a glance with Donghyuck, who smiles at him before going back to laughing. Renjun smiles too. Ever since Donghyuck had used his shaman bells against Jo Ahyoung, he has been more brighter and confident, with not only his powers and his identity, but in general. It makes him happy to see him like that, to grow into the individual standing in front of him. </p><p>He looks at the bells hanging from Donghyuck's handmade loop from his hoodie.</p><p>Then smiles even more. </p><p>.</p><p>After getting back to the dorms, Renjun had woken up to Jaemin curled up into a ball in front of the couch.</p><p>"Jaem?" he calls out. He turns on the lights and rubs his eyes, then quickly shuffles towards the hybrid on the floor. He sits down besides him. "Jaem? Are you alright?" Jaemin doesn't answer. Renjun frowns. "Did..You have another nightmare again?" A moment of silence passes by before Jaemin lifts his head slightly. Even if it wasn't fully exposed, Renjun could tell the hybrid was crying. His eyes were puffy, and red. Jaemin also curls up like this when he has been crying. </p><p>Renjun doesn't say anything else and hugs Jaemin. The hybrid leans against Renjun's touch and sighs. His body relaxes, and uncurls. "Why didn't you come to my room?" Renjun whispers. He begins to stroke through the taller's hair. "Don't scare me like that." Jaemin shuffles in Renjun's arms. He was getting comfortable. Renjun sighs, and hugs him tighter, burying his head into the crook of the hybrid's neck. </p><p>"Injun" Jaemin calls out weakly. "Hm?" Renjun hums. Jaemin brings his head up, making Renjun lean back a little to make room. Jaemin stares at him with glassy eyes. "Please promise me, that no matter what happens, that you will be safe" he says in a quiet tone. That sentence catches Renjun off guard. Usually Jaemin doesn't talk when he's in this state. "Was..the nightmare that bad?" Renjun asks. Jaemin doesn't answer, and repeats his sentence again. "Please promise me, that you will be safe, and happy." The human stares at him. </p><p>"I promise" Renjun finally whispers. </p><p>They go to sleep in Renjun's room.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading!</p><p>
  <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30254736">Sea Pigs and Speciesism</a>
</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0043"><h2>43. 28. Jisung's Four Thousand and Four Invitations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jisung invites his friends to his family's reunion</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi guys! </p><p>We are finally getting into Jisung's Arc! This is gonna be the second to last character arc of the story, and if you did the math you'll notice we've got...one more person left to look into :)))</p><p>I haven't figured out their arc yet cause it's gonna be a mess.</p><p>Anyways, on a serious note, based on my statistics from Quotev, I had a feeling that barely anyone had gone into the second page of the Sea Pigs and Speciesism work where all of the resources are, so I've made a linktree.</p><p>There are a lot of links, but they are in the same order as how the links where organized in Sea Pigs and Speciesism, so give it a look see why don't ya? There is also a link to a movie in a free website (but with ads) called "Saving Face." It's a LGBT Asian American film that I highly recommend, though it is rated R due to a...sexy time scene, but it is short so don't need to worry about the rest of the film in case your parents just walk in all the sudden.</p><p>But wear headphones just in case.</p><p>As always thank you for clicking on, and enjoy the chapter! </p><p> </p><p>  <a href="https://linktr.ee/monchick">linktree</a></p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For a while, Jisung and Chenle wanted to adopt the snapdragon they saw when the group met Taeil for the first time. </p><p>For half a year, they both worked together on researching on how to take care of a snapdragon, how to speak the flower language. Fought over who was going to get to have her stay at their dorm ("I'm more responsible!" Jisung had argued. "Oh yeah? Well I'm more maternal!" Chenle had rebutted. Both arguments were wrong in many ways). Considered if they should just move out of the dorms, and get a apartment so they can live together with the snapdragon. </p><p>I mean Chenle has the money to buy a apartment just to live with his snapdragon and his partner, so why not. </p><p>(They're not dating, but the pair had asked their hyungs to refer to them as "the parents" when speaking about them together.)</p><p>Today was the day that the they will finally get that damn snapdragon (thank goodness, Renjun can't take listening to their arguments on who was going to be the dad and who was the mom for the 154th time). </p><p>However Chenle had stuff to do at the tutoring center, so Renjun was chosen to go with Jisung to buy the snapdragon as a replacement, and quote, "translator if needed." </p><p>Renjun knows the flower language. He's been studying it since 8th grade and is almost fluent, but it would've been nice if they chose a day to pick up the flower that isn't the day he just came back from China from winter break. So now, he just feels like a dad who just came back from a 8 hour shift, taking his son to go get a puppy from the pet store. </p><p>Well, I guess that's pretty much what's happening.</p><p>"Can you also come back with me to my dorm too?" Jisung asks. "I want to make sure Lemon is comfortable." </p><p>Also they named the snapdragon Lemon. </p><p>Cause, it's yellow. </p><p>Duh. </p><p>Renjun sighs. "Yes, yes, don't worry. Just make sure no one contacts me or tries to talk to me for the rest of the day unless it is a emergency." Jisung nods his head. "Of course hyung, thanks for coming with me." </p><p>The bell on the door of the flower shop jingles when Jisung opens it. He holds the door for Renjun, then immediately walks towards Lemon. </p><p>"She was waiting for you guys you know. She couldn't stop talking about coming home with you and Chenle last night" Taeil says as he's coming out from the back. He was holding some daisies in a pot, probably from the garden considering how confused they looked in their new environment. </p><p>Jisung smiles at Taeil's words. "You were waiting for us?" he asks Lemon in a soft voice. The flower nods its head, then starts to wiggle. Anytime Jisung and Chenle came back to the flower shop, they wiggle with the snapdragon. It's a ritual that is both endearing and concerning at the same time. Jisung starts to wiggle with her, then stops to pick up her pot. "Sorry Chenle couldn't be here to get you with me, but Renjun hyung is here!" Jisung says. Lemon switches her attention to the almost dead human standing next to Jisung (Renjun wasn't experiencing any jet lag, but he had to take a 3 am flight), and waves a leaf at him. Renjun waves back and silently walks with Jisung to the counter. </p><p>"Now you are sure that you have the place ready for her right? I heard your arguments with Chenle on where she's going to stay and it makes me very worried" Taeil says, moving the daisies to the side. Jisung nods his head like a bobble head doll. "She's going to be at my place since my room is colder." The dragon nods and types in Lemon's price into the cashier. "Thank goodness, you did your research" he laughs. As Jisung and Taeil make their transaction, Renjun takes the moment to ask about the ice spirit that had gotten hurt, back when the group were scoping around District V for evidence against the DokZuZhi. It had been staying with Taeil for a while since then, so that it can heal before going back out into the wild again. "I took her to the Daebing Mountain, so she can further recover." Renjun tilts his head. "Daebing Mountain? Isn't that the place where the grim reapers reside? How will she be able to recover there?" </p><p>"There's a section on the mountain that specializes in rehabilitating spirits. The ice spirit would be better off there then with me since that mountain is a literal cone of snow" Taeil explains. He gives Jisung his receipt, then goes to pick up the daisies. Jisung thanks Taeil and puts the receipt away into his pocket, then reaches his hands out to grab Lemon's pot. As he does so, Taeil takes his hands off of the daisy pot and snaps his fingers. "Oh! What day is it today?" he asks. "The fourteenth" Renjun replies. Taeil turns towards Jisung as the younger was making sure Lemon was comfortable. "Don't forget about the 24th!" he says, wagging his finger. The fae freezes, then sighs. "Don't worry, Hyo won't let me forget" he says, and picks up the pot. Confused, Renjun looks at Jisung, then Taeil, and opened his mouth to ask what's special about the 24th before noticing the frost growing around Jisung's hands on the pot. "Woah, woah, here let me carry it" he says, quickly taking the pot from Jisung's hands. The fae jolts, and quickly takes the frost off by carrying it into his hand and letting it burst into a small firework of snow to the ground. "Great, now I have to sweep that up" Taeil says, staring at the small droplets on the floor. Renjun and Jisung say their good byes (Jisung apologizing profusely), then go out to the bus stop, and back to the dorms with Lemon in Renjun's hands. </p><p>.</p><p>The section Jisung had cleared off for Lemon was adorable. </p><p>Jisung's desk was near his window, and there was a little area where sunlight hit. There was a sign on the wall behind that read "Welcome Home Lemon!" with fairy lights around it. A watering can sat near that wall, and a little container with plant nutrients and magic talismans for healing was placed next to it, with a piece of cloth was placed on the desk, marking where Lemon would reside. There was also, fake lemons sitting around that cloth which makes the area seem less adorable and more, "let's summon a lemon demon on this very table."</p><p>What was peculiar, was the giant bag sitting in the crevice between Jisung's desk and the wall. Renjun narrows his eyes at the bag to see what it is while Jisung gets Lemon settled. "Do you need water? I made sure to fill the watering can before I left" Jisung asks. The snapdragon nods her head. Jisung grabs the yellow watering can from behind her begins to water Lemon's pot. The flower straightens up immediately upon getting hydrated and waves her leaf to signal Jisung to stop. "Why do you have owl food over there?" Renjun asks, pointing at the large bag when Jisung puts the can away. After a short moment of observation, Renjun had saw a large owl logo plastered on the middle of the bag, with large words trailing across the top reading "OWL FOOD, YUM YUM." That must be the same brand that Pangxie eats considering her bags are usually decorated with a large crab in the middle with the name, "CRAB FOOD, YUM, YUM" on the same place as the owl bag. </p><p>"There some owls that like to hang around my window during night" Jisung says. He looks at the window and makes a little sound ("oh!") of realization. He waddles over to the window then opens it very slowly, then brings in a empty food bowl. "There's a place where you can put that?" Renjun asks. He would ask why there were owls coming over to Jisung's window, but knowing the younger, a owl probably sat on his window and scared him into giving it food, thus starting a chain of owls coming over each night. </p><p>It sounds strange, but that's what happened with the sea pigs in the Sea Pig Farm in Dream City. </p><p>"No not really, but there's a ledge where I balance the bowl on" Jisung says. He was scooping the kibble into the bowl with a spoon. Renjun sighs. "Then don't put it on the ledge, what if it falls?" The fae turns around. "It hasn't fallen down yet though" he says nonchalantly. Renjun opens his mouth, but then closes it. It's not really his job to nag Jisung, it's Jaemin's. He'll just have to tell the hybrid later when he gets back. He instead yawns, and checks up on Lemon to see if she was ok. "Make sure to call me over if there's a problem ok? Don't make it too cold in here, and let her get a lot of light and water." Jisung puts the spoon and bowl down, and gets up. "I will hyung, don't worry. Thanks for coming with me today" he says. Renjun puts a hand on Jisung's shoulder and pats it. "I'm going to take a 17 hour nap, have fun with your owls" he says, and gives a good bye to Lemon before walking out the door to get to his room. </p><p>"Bye hyung!" </p><p>.</p><p>"Hello Jaemin!" </p><p>"Hello Pangxie!" </p><p>"Hello Robert!" </p><p>Renjun takes a double take at the duck sitting on the couch, watching TV with his pet crab. "Robert?" he asks. The duck quacks him a hello, then turns his grey head back towards the TV. "Mark hyung had to work his first night shift at the hospital so I agreed to take care of him" Jaemin says walking in from his room. He gives Renjun a peck on the cheek and sits next to the duck on the couch. He pats the space next to him. "There's still room for one more" he says. Renjun giggles and shuffles towards the couch and plops down. He leans against Jaemin's shoulder, the latter putting a arm around his, and watches a bear trying to catch salmon from a river. For some reason, the inhabitants in this specific dorm really like to watch nature documentaries. The channel never changes from the nature channel. Once you step in, you will want to watch a butterfly crack out from her cocoon as a voice in the background with a British accent, narrates her every move while also speaking in a low voice close to the mic. </p><p>"Did you have a nice time with your family?" Jaemin whispers to the human. Renjun nods his head, then yawns. The narrator's voice was making him more sleepy. Jaemin notices Renjun's fatigue and frowns. "Why didn't you take a nap when you got here?" he asks. "I wasn't feeling tired, and I had to take Jisung to the flower shop to get Lemon" Renjun whispers back. He leans more into Jaemin's shoulder, then lets out another yawn. "Let me take one right now" he says, and closes his eyes. Jaemin sighs, but smiles. He combs through Renjun's hair, then carries him to his bed when the documentary finishes. After getting Pangxie to her tank, and Robert to his bed (Mark had given it to Jaemin before he left), the hybrid climbs into the bed with Renjun. He hugs him, letting Renjun sigh into his chest while he too, closes his eyes to drift into dreamland. </p><p>For the first time in two weeks, Jaemin finally was able to sleep without getting a nightmare.</p><p>.</p><p>A few weeks later, Donghyuck bursts into the lab like how he would burst into the bathroom to take a mega shit. </p><p>The whole gang was in there. Well Jisung wasn't, but Sungchan and Shotaro filled in his place, and were peacefully sitting on the counter, drinking their banana milks (the fae had told them that the milk is much better then the orange juice they were drinking beforehand). </p><p>Donghyuck points a finger at Jeno and yells; "ARE YOU DATING MY SISTER!?" </p><p>The poor wolf only froze, clipboard in hand and jaw wide open. He shakes his head left to right, left to right. "No??" he answers back. </p><p>"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'no' WITH A QUESTION MARK!?" </p><p>"I meant 'no'! No means no!" </p><p>The merman narrows his eyes at the wolf, then whips his head toward Renjun, Jaemin, Mark, and Chenle, who were all sitting at the table. "Hey don't look at us, we didn't do anything" Jaemin says, putting his hands up. Donghyuck puts his hands on his hips and looks at Renjun. "Spill the horchata Huang." </p><p>"Since when were you drinking horchata, we live in Korea." </p><p>"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!" </p><p>"I don't know anything either!" he says. "That's a lie!" Donghyuck replies back. Renjun rolls his eyes, and gets back to his essay. The stupid thing was supposed to prepare him for writing his thesis, but all it's doing is preparing him for a migraine that's going to last for the rest of the semester. </p><p>Next, the merman turns towards Chenle. "Jeno hyung likes Dongsook noona, but that's all" the leprechaun says. Jeno makes a strange sound from the aisle of compartments and runs up towards the younger. "Yo! What are you doing!?" he whispers. "Saving your ass" Mark answers for Chenle, looking down at his own assignment from med school. "Why do I need to know where the metatarsals are, I'm studying the cardiovascular system" he mutters out of the blue, to no one in particular. </p><p>Donghyuck may say out loud that he doesn't care much of his sister, but in reality, everyone knows he's very protective of her. The mermaid told Renjun once that Donghyuck scared off her toxic ex-boyfriend by sending Nancy to his house to stare at him in his sleep. "Aight, tell me one reason why I should trust your ass with my dear sis" Donghyuck says, rolling up his sleeves. He knows that he's not going to win in a fight with Jeno, but it's Lee Donghyuck, the dude is like a dice that explodes at every random roll. Jeno knows that, and begins to shield himself while also spitting out the reasons why he will be a good boyfriend, and that he will take good care of Dongsook, feed her her favorite foods, take her on walks, water her everyday-</p><p>Suddenly Chenle gets up from the table. Donghyuck and Jeno pause in their...fight, and watch the leprechaun open the door. In comes Park Jisung, carrying a large pile of mini envelopes that climbed higher then his head. Really, and the boy is tall so this pile was gigantic. </p><p>He comes rushing towards the table, Chenle slowly following slowly behind, and drops the pile. "I hate my bird!" he shouts, and rests his hands on his knees. "The heck are these? And what bird?" Donghyuck says. Before Jisung could answer, Jeno runs up to him and gives him a hug. "THANK YOU, YOU SAVED ME FROM DEATH!!" he shouts. Jisung sqawks confusingly, then tells Jeno to let go. "What happened?" he asks. "Jeno hyung was about to die because he likes Donghyuck hyung's twin sister" Sungchan answers. He takes a sip of his banana milk, while kicking his heels against the cupboards. "Doyoung hyung isn't going to like that" Shotaro tells the taller. Sungchan shrugs and puts his milk down. "But Doyoung hyung isn't here" he replies. "Atta boy" Donghyuck praises. Renjun sighs and shakes his head. Sungchan is already going down the path of evil with Donghyuck as his guide. Well at least Shotaro is somewhat innocent (he saw his TikToks before coming into the hospital, the wind spirit is not actually 100% innocent). </p><p>"So, what are these for?" Jaemin asks Jisung, pointing to the stack of envelopes. Jisung takes a moment to process the question, then answers. "Oh, these are invitations to my family's reunion." Mark looks up and squints at the pile. "How many are in there??" he asks alarmingly.</p><p>"Four thousand and four." </p><p>"Four thousand and four!?" Renjun exclaims.</p><p>Jisung nods. "Four thousand and four." Chenle snickers and takes a seat at the table. "Jisung's family has a tradition every year where the older relatives have to pass out all four thousand and four invitations. Since Jisung has come of age, he has to do his job and pass them out." The aforementioned fae glares at the leprechaun as he cackles. "This isn't funny Le, my mom will literally KILL me if I don't pass these out." Chenle stops laughing, and shrugs. "Nah, at most she'll just banish you out the house again." </p><p>"Again?" Renjun asks. "You went to his family reunion before?" Honestly the human isn't surprised. Wherever Jisung goes, Chenle follows and vice versa. If one is missing, the other will find him in a snap. It's a strange ability that they both have, yet no one questions it. "Yeah, I've gone every year, and they're always a blast" Chenle answers. He takes a invitation from the pile and stuffs it into his bag. "Here I'll do you a favor and take the very first one" he teases. The rest of the group follows in taking a invitation after. "We will too. Honestly, after knowing you for so long, it's strange how you never told us about reunion before" Jeno says, scanning the invitation. Jisung presses his lips together. "It's something that I'd rather not have everyone know." </p><p>The door to the lab opens again. This time, Doyoung and Taeyong walk in together, the ghost looking at a clipboard of his own when coming in. "Sungchan I hope you're not kicking the cabinets with your heels again." The earth spirit stops swinging his legs. "You heard all of that?" he asks. "I head that and the little comment you made" Doyoung says. He gives a look at Donghyuck, who turns his head away from the doctor as if he didn't know he was there. Doyoung shakes his head and flips through some charts. "Jeno, where are those vitals I asked you to fill out?" he asks. Jeno makes a O with his mouth and grabs the clipboard. "I haven't finished filling them out yet, Donghyuck was about to kill me for having a crush on his twin." </p><p>"Well, I need you to fill them in quick. Hyojung is supposed to revive some time this week, and I don't want to delay her-" </p><p>In the middle of his nagging, Doyoung stops. He was looking at the pile of envelopes sitting at the table. He then slowly turns his head towards Jisung, who was already holding out a invitation for him to take. "Hyung please" Jisung begs. </p><p>"Is it for that thing" Doyoung asks.</p><p>Jisung nods. </p><p>"Then no" the ghost replies and walks towards the compartments. "But hyung, help me out here" Jisung complains. Curious, Taeyong pokes his head out of the compartment aisle and looks at the white envelope in Jisung's hand. He gasps. "Oh, is it time already?" he asks, then walks to go take one from Jisung's pile. Doyoung comes in between him and the table and smacks his hand before he could even lay a finger on the white piece of folded paper. "Ow!" Taeyong yelps. He rubs his hand and glares at his boyfriend. "We are not going there! Not in a million of years!" Doyoung says. Taeyong drops the glare and replaces it with a unamused look. "Doyoung, you're going to have to go at some point." </p><p>"No!"</p><p>"Doyoung" </p><p>Doyoung closes his eyes, and crosses his arms. He turns his head away from the shorter fire ghost in protest. "I am NOT going to that reunion! It is one of the most stressful events a ghost can participate in, and I have too many things on my plate right now." Jisung slaps his hands together, and looks up at the ceiling. "Hyung PLEASE, I need to get rid of all of these invitations!" he pleads. </p><p>"Why don't you just give them to your dance team!" </p><p>"They had other plannnns." </p><p>The rest of the group, Sungchan, and Shotaro, only watched whatever was happening in front of them. They don't know why Doyoung doesn't want to go, and how he knew what it is based off of one glance at the invitations. Renjun opens his mouth to ask, but gets cut off when Taeyong scolds Doyoung. "Doyoung, you can't avoid it this year, you know too many people who are going and you will eventually have to go too." The ghost drops his arms and pouts at the fire spirit. "Come onnn, you know how GRUELING they can be towards ghosts!" Taeyong narrows his eyes at the taller, and snatches the envelope from Jisung's hand. "If I'm going, you're going too" he says, and walks out of the lab. Jisung quickly turns around to grab a envelope to give to Doyoung, but by the time he turns back, the doctor is already gone. He sighs and puts the envelope back onto the table. </p><p>"I hate this economy." he grumbles. He turns his head towards Shotaro and Sunchan, and silently offers one to them. The revived spirits share glances. Shotaro takes his straw out of his mouth, then puts up a number two with his fingers.</p><p>"Two please."</p><p>.</p><p>So apparently, Jisung's family reunion is on the 24th. </p><p>Well actually, it starts on the 21st. Since the 24th is a Monday, Renjun assumes the Parks are trying to drag out this event through the weekend, so they wouldn't have to meet on a Monday. </p><p>The point is, it's the 24th. </p><p>He had heard Taeil mention something about the 24th when he went with Jisung to adopt Lemon. He may have been sleep deprived, but the human didn't forget the nervous reaction Jisung exhibited when Taeil mentioned that specific date. </p><p>"Maybe he doesn't want to go" Jaemin says when Renjun tells him his observations. They were having a ramen dinner at their table, with Pangxie in a baby chair Jaemin bought at a garage sale with her food in the tray. "He never mentioned this reunion before, which is strange since it is annual, and he rarely talks about his family. In fact, I don't even know where he came from." Renjun tilts his head. "Is he not born in Neo City?" he asks. Jaemin takes a bite of his kimchee and shakes his head. "No, most ice faes aren't usually born in the city" he says after chewing. "They're usually born around the mountains where it's the coldest, or outside of the country." He shrugs and digs around his ramen. "Who am I to peer into though. If he doesn't want to tell, he doesn't have to tell." </p><p>Renjun pouts, and digs through his own ramen. It was strange though, how Jisung suddenly mentions this event that even Jaemin and Jeno didn't know about. He turns his head and watches Pangxie take a bite of her food with her claw, and thinks more about Jisung's family reunion. </p><p>Quietly, so Jaemin doesn't scold him.</p><p>.</p><p>The invitations that Jisung passed out were interesting.</p><p>It had the dates, the times, the number you had to call to RSVP (which wasn't available, there goes the precious 15 minutes Renjun had wasted fighting with his phone).</p><p>But not the location??</p><p>All Jisung had told the group, was that it was a very cold place that was in the mountains, and that they're going to have to bring their stuff with them because getting down the mountain was like climbing down Mount Olympus, 60 feet deep into Hell. </p><p>The fae was STILL consistent in not giving up the location when it came to drive, and had decided to just tell Jeno the directions instead of just putting it into Google Maps ("it won't show up, trust me I've tried" Chenle says when the group protested).  </p><p>"Are you sure you're telling me the right directions?" Jeno asks. They were about to leave Neo City into some unknown area. Renjun hadn't even known you COULD leave Neo City without having to get into the human world. "It looks right" Jisung says unhelpfully. Robert quacks from the back seat. Mark shushes the duck and pets his head with his finger. All of the pets were residing with their owners on their laps. Pangxie was in her tank with Renjun, Robert with Mark, and Lemon was with Chenle. The only expectation was Geran who quietly sat on Jaemin's lap as Jeno was driving (Donghyuck would've been the one to hold her, but the merman had given too much affection for the cat to handle). </p><p>With Jisung being a living GPS machine, the group drives out of Neo City, and into a forest. As they drive further through it, the area around them starts to become snowier, and snowier until eventually the trees were replaced by their dead counterparts, with their naked branches sticking out as if to say "Welcome! Is this your first time in the Sul Mountains?" </p><p>"You live in the Sul Mountains? I thought this place had only existed until 1942!" Renjun exclaims. The book that he read when he first discovered his powers told him so. The Sul Mountains is a area outside of Neo City where ice faes and other ice related beings lived until a incident that involved a very hot summer in 1942. Jisung shakes his head. "Nah, a lot of people are mistaken. We've been THRIVING since 1942." He keeps giving Jeno directions on driving through this small, snowy town. People with hair similar to Jisung's were walking on the sidewalks,  children were playing in the snow. The buildings themselves, had looked like a snowman had built them. "Take that path and we should get to the parking lot" Jisung says, pointing towards a trail. Jeno nods, now a little less worried considering they're in a area known for inhabiting ice faes, and follows Jisung's instructions. However as soon as he spots the sign that marked the entrance in front of the trail. He stops the car. </p><p>"Jisung" Jeno says. He turns towards the fae. "This sign says "Daebing Mountain."</p><p>"Yeah" </p><p>"This is where the grim reapers live" </p><p>"So?" </p><p>"Are you trying to kill us!?" Donghyuck shouts from the backseat. </p><p>"Nah, this is the right place" Chenle says. He was wiggling with Lemon. Jisung spots them and also starts to wiggle. "How? Daebing Mountain doesn't have ice faes, it has people who work with literal GODS!" Renjun says. ("I mean we technically work with a deity" "Mark hyung not now") The leprechaun stops wiggling, and deadass says; "Well it's the right place because Jisung is half grim reaper." </p><p>The car was blaring as it drove up the trail. </p><p>Chenle, Donghyuck, Renjun, and Jeno were arguing, Jaemin and Mark were telling them to calm down. Robert kept quacking, Pangxie kept clamping, Lemon kept wiggling, and Geran kept going with her nap (bless her for being able to sleep through all of this noise). Jisung was on the verge of tears when they parked. </p><p>"PARK JISUNG EXPLAIN!" Jaemin shouts in his motherly tone. Jisung sighs and takes off his seat belt and turns his body towards his hyungs. "Look, it's something I don't like talking about because I don't like having this as part as my blood, but yes it's true, I am half grim reaper. Always have been. My mother is a grim reaper, and my father is a ice fae. Now can we please just start walking up?" </p><p>"Are we going to meet more grim reapers up there then?" Donghyuck asks. </p><p>"Wait if you're a grim reaper, where are your abilities?" Renjun asks. </p><p>"Is this how you knew that cockroach was going to get smacked by Jaemin's ass the other day?" Mark asks. </p><p>"So, was your hair originally blond or black when you were born?" Jaemin asks. </p><p>"Do we really have to go up more? Can't I just drive up there?" Jeno complains.</p><p>"Can we go up already? Lemon needs water" Chenle says. </p><p>"SHUSH!" Jisung shouts. He sighs and bangs his head against the headrest of his seat. "Yes, we're going to meet more grim reapers up there, they're my relatives for bloody sake. I don't have my abilities yet because I'm just that incompetent ("NO YOU ARE NOT YOU SWEET CHILD!!" Jaemin yells). No, I just happened to see the roach crawl onto Jaemin hyung's seat. My hair was originally black, but it slowly changed to white as my powers grew more and more. Yes, we have to walk up there, the drive way is only for my parent's cars, and here take this water bottle Le."</p><p>Chenle smiles and happily takes the water bottle that Jisung had unfroze and held in front of the heater for the whole ride. He pours the water into Lemon's pot, and gestures for the rest of the group to keep chatting. "Look, I'll explain more later, just promise me one thing." Everyone but Chenle perks up. "Do not, and I mean DO NOT, do anything that could potentially embarrass me in front of my parents and extended family." Jaemin pouts and crosses his arms. "Why? Do you think we're embarrassing?" he asks, quite offended. Jisung gestures towards Robert and Pangxie with a face that read "Hello??". "Hey don't blame us! You're the one who adopted a plant!" Mark argues back. Jisung drops his hand and head and sighs. "Let's just walk up to my doom and see what lays before us there." </p><p>.</p><p>The walkway up to the house looked like a winter wonderland.</p><p>The older members of the group couldn't help but look at the trees and snow in awe. It was beautiful, though it was ruined by the look of utter discomforting stress and agony on Jisung's face.</p><p>Renjun knew that Jisung was going to be nervous to see his family, but not nervous to the point where (in a hypothetical situation) as soon as one of them says "let's go back home", the fae will literally teleport back to his bed at his dorm. </p><p>It could also be because of Jisung's grim reaper half. The fae wasn't too much of a fan of his ice elemental powers since it is one of the most deadliest elementals one could hold (hence why most of the spirits they've fought with were ice), so being related to death themselves isn't really the nicest thing you can think of. </p><p>The human rushes over towards the fae in the front while the others were laughing at Geran getting stuck in snow. Jisung was waiting for them to get Geran out, and was getting more anxious by the minute. "Calm down Jisung, how bad could it be" Renjun says to him. He was carrying Pangxie's tank in his hands. The crab is currently watching the boys trying to pull the black cat out of the snow while also simultaneously trying not to get scratched by her claws. Jisung shudders, but not from the cold. "Very bad. Horrible, everything will go into the wrong direction." Renjun frowns. "Jisung come on, this is your family we're going to see" he says a little more softly. The younger sighs and looks at the ground. "I know, it's just, they're not the most loving family on this Earth. They have high standards for me since I'm the only child of my parents, and you always know me, I'm the kind who just messes up every chance I get." </p><p>"GOT HER!" Jaemin yells and lifts Geran out of her fluffy prison. The cat lets out a small hiss and jumps into Jeno's arms. "Oh so NOW you want cuddles" Jeno says. "Jen you were driving" Donghyuck tells him. The wolf gives him a glare and hugs his cat close to his body. "Well we got her out, let's keep walking!" Jisung gives out another sigh, this time it was a bit more like a huff, and turns around to continue his trek. Renjun watches as Jisung's back gets smaller and smaller as his friends pass by him. A tap on the shoulder startles him. He turns around and sees Jaemin giving him a amused smile. "What's up? Why do you look so worried?" </p><p>"Jisung's been looking very nervous since we got here. I just talked to him and he told me his family gives him too many expectations." Jaemin nods, his smile faltering a bit, then looks up at the bright yellow hair that was leading the group through the dreamy forest. "I'm worried for his self esteem" Renjun says further. "I've been worried since I've ever met the kid" Jaemin answers honestly. "Trust me when I say he's getting more confident though. We'll just have to be there when he feels like he hasn't." Renjun presses his lips together and nods his head. He hopes the fae will be alright this weekend. </p><p>Meanwhile in the front, Chenle is acting awfully strange, whispering to Lemon and Jisung, and looking for something through the trees. "He's not going to show up if you actively look for him Le" Jisung replies after Chenle whispers something to him. "But he never shows up in front of me!" he says, looking through the branches. Lemon was looking too, putting her leaf above the front of her face and searching for this mysterious being. </p><p>"What chu looking for?" Donghyuck asks. Chenle turns around towards the merman, then suddenly gets a light bulb in his head. "Oh! Jisung can I tell them about Hyo? Please? They could look for him too!" Jisung shrugs and gestures a wave at him to go ahead. He's got too many things on his mind right now to care.</p><p>After getting permission, Chenle turns around and starts to walk backwards with stars in his eyes. "Hyo is Jisung's owl guardian!" he excitedly tells. "Owl guardian? Since when did this dude have a owl guardian??" Donghyuck says, pointing at the fae in front of him. "Every child in the grim reaper family gets one, and it stays with them until the grim reaper dies, which rarely happens." Renjun notices how Lemon tilted her head when Chenle did. These two, along with Jisung, were really in sync. "Is he here?" Jeno says. He too starts to look around the trees for some sort of owl perched on a branch. "Yeah, he's always with Jisung. It's just that we can't see him." </p><p>The aforementioned fae eyes the brown screech owl sitting on a tree branch from above and keeps walking. Renjun spots the same owl, the bird narrowing his eyes at him, and keeps walking silently.</p><p>He assumes it's best not to tell anyone.</p><p>.</p><p>As expected, the house of a grim reaper is huge.</p><p>It's literally a mansion. A wooden mansion, which is fitting for such a house that's settled in the woods. </p><p>The bottom half of the mansion had your regular layout of a Western house, but on the top laid tiled roofs of Korean houses. It looked kind of similar to the strange house Renjun had seen in District U. </p><p>People were hanging around the house, cups in their hands while they were talking to each other. There were four BMW cars that had parked on the large driveway next to them (Renjun assumes that those are the cars of Jisung's parents). There was a pathway that lead to the large doors of the mansion. It wasn't opened, which is surprising since the owners of this house are expecting guests. </p><p>Jisung leads his friends up the stairs, making sure they bring their luggage up ok, then turns around to ring the doorbell. A loud, dark toned chime rung through the estate. The people around them didn't flinch, probably being used to the doorbell being rung so many times. </p><p>The door opens to a young woman, wearing a black blazer on top of her white blouse. She adorned a navy blue pencil skirt, and her bun was so tight that it was practically pulling the sides of her eyes. Renjun notices, the binyeo in her bun, and her pin that adorned the South Korean flag on her chest. "Hello Young Master Park" she greets the young fae. Embarrassed by the title, Jisung raises his shoulders and coils into his neck. "H-hi, Ms. Choi" he greets. "Ms. Choi" didn't seem to be bothered by Jisung's shy reaction, and bows. "Your parents are expecting you and your-" She glances at the boys behind Jisung, and their pets. "-friends. They would like you to have them settle in their rooms first before getting lunch." The fae nods his head. "Will do." </p><p>"I will be escorting your friends to their rooms." </p><p>"Oh that won't be necessary." </p><p>"They do not know where the rooms are." </p><p>"But I do!" </p><p>"But you have been long away from this house Young Master Park." </p><p>"F-for one year!" </p><p>Jisung cracked his voice out of sheer anxiety three times during that exchange. </p><p>Chenle, coming to the rescue, steps next to Jisung and hands over Lemon to him. "Hi Ms. Choi!" Chenle greets. "Long time no see!" Ms. Choi gives Chenle a bow. "Hello Young Master Zhong, it's nice to see you again." The leprechaun smiles, being more used to the title then Jisung is, then reaches into his backpack. "My parents asked me to give you guys as a greeting" he says, and gives a red box with gold decorating to Ms. Choi. The woman looks at the box, her eyes suddenly turning dark gray, and scans it like a security robot. "Thank you Young Master Zhong, the Parks will enjoy their Chinese herbal medicine."</p><p>She puts the box on one hand, and steps to the side. "Please do come in" Ms. Choi says, and puts out a hand pointing into the house. Chenle walks in first, followed by a Jisung who's repeatedly smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand ("Young Master Park, please do not hurt yourself"), then Donghyuck, Mark, Jeno, Jaemin, and Renjun. </p><p>Renjun should've realized that he, a human being, was entering the home of grim reapers. That he he is on the mountain known to house grim reapers. But he was too distracted with the pretty snow (and the low ass temperatures), that he didn't stop to realize that this house, is maybe booby trapped with items that could capture the human. </p><p>He walked through the entrance, Pangxie in hand, when a net suddenly drops down and scoops him and the crab up. The group stops and turns around when they hear the sound of the net dropping. "Oh no" Jisung groans, and shoves Lemon back into Chenle's hands. Ms. Choi, had frighteningly whipped her head toward Renjun, her eyes turning into a darker grey, and summoned a sword. She points it at Renjun, who leans away, hugging Pangxie's tank, while the crab itself was clamping her claws in self defense. "Young Master Park please leave, there is a human who has entered the premise" Ms. Choi calmly says. "Ms. Choi that's my friend, he didn't sneak in, please put your sword down" Jisung replies back. Ms. Choi whips her head towards Jisung. "You have befriended a human?" she asks. </p><p>"Well, technically he's a elemental human." Jisung gestures towards Renjun to do something to prove his claim. The human looks around for any plants, but couldn't find any but fake ones (he glares at the fake ones for being, fake). He resorts to using his shield and pops into his purple hamster ball. "See? He's a nice person, now please let him go" Jisung begs. Ms. Choi nods, and throws her sword towards the top of the net. The rope holding the net is cut, dropping Renjun onto the ground. He stays in his shield until the net around him disappears, and checks on Pangxie. "Are you ok?" he asks checking for any cracks in her shell. The crab clacks her claws two times as a response, and turns around to show no cracks. She is ok.</p><p>Jaemin immediately runs to help Renjun up from the ground. Ms. Choi's sword zips past by their heads as the woman had called it back into her hand. She puts it away, and bows towards Renjun. "I apologize. I was unaware that a human was capable enough to befriend Young Master Park." </p><p>Ok, rude. </p><p>"Ah ha, please don't phrase it like that" Jisung says. He gestures Renjun and Jaemin to get a head start towards the rooms. "I'll take them to the guest rooms don't worry" the fae says.</p><p>"But your parents-" </p><p>"I'll talk to my parents" Jisung says, and runs to catch up with his friends. Ms. Choi sighs, and walks back into another room to complete another task. </p><p>.</p><p>"So, 'Young Master Park?'" </p><p>Jisung freezes in the middle of the hallway and sighs. He turns towards his grinning hyungs. "Yes, that's what they call me here, please do not ever call me that when we get back to Neo City." Donghyuck nods and puts out a thumbs out. "Sure thing Young Master Park!" he shouts, laughing after Jisung's groan of agony. </p><p>First, Jisung took the group to their rooms. The bedrooms are placed next to the young fae's and had the same interior decorating; gray floral wallpaper with a blue queen sized bed. There was a window at the back of the room, a ottoman with a lighter shade of blue that was placed in front of the bed, and a desk that sat right next to the window, where Renjun had helped Pangxie settle down. </p><p>"Why don't you wanna be called 'Young Master'? It's so fancy sounding" Mark asks. "That's the reason why, it's too fancy. A simple 'Jisung Park' will be nice thank you" the younger answers. </p><p>As they walk, they don't stop to notice the brown screech owl, soaring towards them. It swooshes over their heads (it made Mark scream), and lands on Jisung's shoulder. He stops and looks to his right to see the owl land, and shake its feathers. "Bleh, when was the last time you had a bath?" the fae asks. The owl narrows its eyes at him and pecks him in the cheek. "Ow, ok understandable" Jisung says, rubbing his cheek. Renjun clears his throat. Jisung stops talking to the bird and turns around. "Oh! Uh, this is Hyo..my bird." </p><p>"HYOOOOO!!!" Chenle yells. He jumps in front of the small bird on Jisung's shoulder, scaring some people nearby, and smiles at him. "Hello, it's nice to see you again!" Hyo stares at the leprechaun, then extends his neck to nip at his nose. "Ow! How is it possible that your beak got sharper?" Chenle asks, covering his nose. "He must've grown" Jisung says, looking at the owl. He turns to his hyungs. "You wanna see him up close?" Mark jokingly brings his hands up. "Is he gonna bite us?" he laughs. Jisung shakes his head. "That's just way of sharing his love" the fae answers. Jeno walks up first and waves at Hyo. "Hi! I'm Jeno" he greets. The owl looks at him and nods, as a way of saying "OK, next." Jeno laughs and pets his head with a finger. The owl didn't seem to mind, and closed his eyes from the pat. Next Mark came after. "Sup, I'm Mark Lee." Hyo nods his head again. It's like he speed meeting his owner's friends. </p><p>Or probably because he already knows who these people are. </p><p>Jaemin comes up next. Before he could say anything, Hyo narrows his eyes and extends his neck towards his face. </p><p>Like as in stretching his neck like a giraffe. </p><p>"Hi?" Jaemin says alarmed. "Hyo recoil your neck! It's weird!" Jisung scolds. The owl doesn't listen ("*sigh* he never listens") and keeps on staring at the hybrid before nodding. "Alright, have a good day" Jaemin says, and walks off to meet Jeno, Mark, and Chenle to the side. Donghyuck and Renjun share glances. "You can go first" Donghyuck says. "Oh no, I insist" Renjun replies, gesturing him to go first.</p><p>"No, no, that wouldn't be polite." </p><p>"No, I insist!" </p><p>"Huang I don't want to be glared by that owl." </p><p>"Lee, you have Nancy, you should be used to it by now." </p><p>Renjun wins the argument by pushing Donghyuck towards the pair. Hyo narrows his eyes and extends his neck again to look at him. Donghyuck whines from fear as the bird inspects him, and gives out a scared squeal when Hyo further elongates towards his hands. "Jisung why do you have a long furby as a pet" Donghyuck asks, shoulders curled up to his face. "He's not my pet, he was assigned to me when I was born. Plus all of the birds here do that." </p><p>"ALL OF THEM!?" Donghyuck screams, then scrunches back when Hyo's neck closes back into its..shoulders?? Hyo nods, Donghyuck screams from emancipation and runs over to hide behind Mark. Renjun takes a deep breath and walks up to Hyo. </p><p>"Hi HyoooOOOOOO" </p><p>This time Hyo extends his neck right in front of Renjun's face and stares into his pupils. "Jisung is there a reason why we're being checked by your giraffe owl" Jeno asks. "He wants to get to know you guys more. Especially Renjun hyung, since he's a human." Donghyuck peeks out from behind Mark's shoulder. "Why did he do that to me then?" he asks. "Cause you're elemental is water. It's another version of ice" Jisung says. </p><p>"Why did he do that to Jaemin then?" </p><p>Jisung opens his mouth, then closes it. He wasn't quite sure. Hyo was done inspecting Renjun's humaneness and has coiled back. "Well, that was..lovely" Renjun says.  </p><p>"You don't have to lie hyung" </p><p>"Ok thanks, that was the most horrifying experience I have ever lived through." </p><p>.</p><p>Now, Jisung was taking his hyungs to get lunch.</p><p>The dining room looked like a ballroom to be completely honest. There was a large chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling. On one half of the room, there was a long line of food on buffet tables with another long line of people serving themselves with sparkling white plates in their hands. In the other half laid multitudes of dining tables with people eating, laughing, and talking. Renjun can not see where the end of the room is on either sides. "Let's pick up food and head up to my room. We can hang out with the pets and watch a movie in there" Jisung says. Donghyuck raises an eyebrow. "You don't wanna say hi to your family?" he asks. Renjun notices a glint of dismay in the fae's eyes. "Jisung, you should at least say hi to your parents." Suddenly, Hyo starts to flap his wings, and flies off Jisung's shoulder to who knows where. "Hyo will do that for me. Come on, let's go get some plates." Renjun sighs and shares a glance with Jaemin. The other shrugs, but keeps an eye on Jisung anyways. </p><p>It felt like a hike to get at the beginning of the line. After grabbing his tray and a few plates, Renjun searches through the selection of items the buffet had in store. There were too many to choose from. Too may delicious pieces of food that made Renjun practically salivate. He gets distracted and accidentally bumps into a man in front of him. "Oh sorry!" he says. The man, adorning a black turtle neck, with black slacks on, turns around. At first, Renjun got startled by the mask on his face, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was Doyoung. "Hyung?" he asks. Doyoung shushes him. He looks up and sees he got the attention of the boys behind Renjun. "Hyung? I thought you said you didn't wanna come" Jaemin says behind Renjun. Doyoung sighs. He looks at the front and sees the people in front of him already moved ahead. </p><p>"Taeil hyung forced me to come" Doyoung says, grabbing a small bowl of shrimp cocktail. "How did you get a invite? I'm sure they wouldn't let you in with that mask on" Jeno asks, picking up a slice of pizza. The doctor scans a salad bowl, then continues moving when he sees slices of cucumbers in them. "Yoonoh gave it to me. He's related to the grim reapers who lived here." Ah yes, Jung Yoonoh, the only grim reaper Renjun personally knew before he learned of Jisung's real genetic makeup. At first the human thought he was a wolf, but after witnessing the detective arresting a dark spirit who escaped from Hell, he thought otherwise.</p><p>"Wait does that mean Yoonoh hyung is related to..." Donghyuck points back to Jisung with his thumb. The fae wasn't really getting any food and had only laid a sad bowl of rice on his tray. "I assume so, Jisung is the son of the family who lives here. That would make Yoonoh his cousin" Doyoung answers. The whole group turns around to face Jisung, not being bothered by the annoyed looks of the people behind them in the line. Not noticing their dramatic turn, Jisung takes a small bowl of naengmyun and looks up when he senses something. "What" he asks. "Since when was Jung Yoonoh your cousin?" Mark asks. "Since I was born" Jisung answers. He spots a plate of kimchi and puts it on his tray. A man behind him clears his throat, signaling the boys to hurry up and move the line. They look at the man, then quickly rush to catch up with Doyoung.</p><p>"So why didn't you want to come here?" Renjun asks. Doyoung grabs a small plate of pasta. "Grim reapers suspect every ghost that isn't a elemental spirit. They're gonna think that I escaped from the afterlife when there is literally a whole other type of ghost that had escaped from their mother's womb instead." Chenle pokes his head from the side. "No one suspects you so far." Doyoung turns his head towards him. "That's because no one knows who I am." </p><p>The group and Doyoung reach the end of the line, with plates of food piling onto their trays (Renjun was wondering why they had been given trays instead of plates, and now he sees why). "Where are you guys gonna be?" Doyoung asks. "We're gonna be in Sungie's room" Chenle answers. The doctor nods. "Lucky, I wish I could do that, but I'm stuck talking with other people at the dining tables over there." He grabs a cup of orange juice, and waves at the boys. "I'll see you around!" he says, and starts to walk off to his table. However, something appears in front of Doyoung, preventing him to go back.</p><p>Ms. Choi summons her sword and points it at Doyoung. "You foolish ghoul, you think you could sneak into the house of the grim reapers thinking we wouldn't catch you?!" She cuts the strings holding Doyoung's mask, revealing the famous "You got to be shitting me" face of Kim Doyoung. "Uh Ms. Choi, he's not one of those ghosts, you can put your sword down" Jisung says. </p><p>"Falsehood!" Ms. Choi shouts. </p><p>"N-no, it's true you can put it down now" Jisung stutters. </p><p>"See this is why I didn't want to come here" Doyoung says to himself out loud. He gives Ms. Choi a bored expression and raises an eyebrow. "Would you LIKE me to show you my birth certificate, I can assure you that I didn't come out from Hell, I came out from my mother's vagi-" </p><p>"Come with me ghoul, I have to further inspect you in the office" Ms. Choi says and walks off. Doyoung groans and shoots a glare towards the dining tables. Renjun turns around and squints. He can see Johnny and Yuta giggling, and a look of concern on Taeyong's face. The fire spirit asks Taeil something, with the dragon answering back. He probably asked if Doyoung was ok, Taeil answering that he will be. Ms. Choi stops in the middle of the walkway. "Oh, Young Master Park." Jisung cringes, jolting in place while reaching for a chocolate milkshake. "You parents would like to greet you in person, especially your mother" Ms. Choi says. The fae looks up and turns around. "Can I do that during dinner instead??" he asks. Ms. Choi shakes her head. "They had fully expected you to come to their office to meet them instead of sending Hyo since you have come of age." </p><p>Which probably means, "you're old enough to face your parents you manchild." </p><p>Jisung presses his lips together, his eyebrows dipping into a worried state. "I'll see them during dinner, I just want to eat with my friends" he says, and walks off, past Ms. Choi, and without his friends. </p><p>.</p><p>After his friends had finished eating, they decided to go out and explore the mansion a bit. Jisung stayed back at his room, and continued to watch with Lemon the movie his friends left behind. </p><p>Jisung loves his friends. He thinks that he loves them more then his actual family. </p><p>His parents had never made Jisung feel confident and sure as his friends does. His friends, actually care about his well being, and understand his limits. The fae's parents, especially his mother, don't understand and continue to drown him in expectations. They realized that Jisung didn't like to use his elemental powers and did not know how to control them, so they sent him to every tutoring center possible until one day in high school, the fae couldn't take it anymore and started bawling his eyes out. </p><p>"Please don't make me go there anymore!" he begged. "I can't do it! And I can never do it!" </p><p>They were never proud of him.</p><p>Because he never met their expectations. </p><p>They gave up after that day, and anticipated for Jisung to be just a useless snow goblin who can't even look at a dead person in the eye (don't even get him started on grim reaper duties). He doesn't know if they know about the spirit hunting things he does in Neo City though. Maybe, if they saw him fight, maybe they might change their minds about him. </p><p>No, that's not going to happen. If they saw Jisung fumbling with those ice bombs, over freezing everything, and accidentally getting people stuck to the ice, then they'd just be more disappointed.</p><p>"How will he even be a grim reaper when he can't even use a simple tool a deity had given him?" his mother would say.</p><p>A knock interrupts his thoughts. "Come in" Jisung says, eyes not leaving the computer screen. </p><p>The door to his bedroom opens. Hyo comes flying in and sits on Jisung's shoulder. He caresses his head on Jisung's cheek, making the fae smile a bit. "Have you met Lemon yet?" he asks the owl. Hyo looks at him then looks at the flower sitting on the ground next to them. Lemon looks up at the owl and leans back, a bit startled to see the bird. Hyo jumps off JIsung's shoulder and inspects Lemon. The flower looks at Hyo, then starts to wiggle. The owl gets confused at first, but then starts to wiggle with her. It makes Jisung smile even more. </p><p>"Jisung." </p><p>Jisung's smile drops. He looks up. Ms. Choi came into the room and closed the door. Ms. Choi had been part of Jisung's life since he was born. She's a mother figure that made sure to keep Jisung is in check while his parents are off bringing dead people to get reincarnated, busy catching rouge ghosts, or watching over the mountain's condition, making sure it is nice and cold. </p><p>"Your parents are not happy that you had not come to greet them" she says. Jisung looks back at the computer. "They're never happy with me, so what's the surprise there" he answers back. Ms. Choi sighs and walks up to the fae and sits down at his couch. In front of other people, Ms. Choi acts like a robot, but with Jisung alone, she acts like a true mother. "Jisung, you're about to turn 21 soon. You have to look at your parents in the eye and prove that you're capable enough to do anything you want." The fae doesn't answer and keeps watching the monitor (he picked up that move from Jaemin. The older does that whenever he doesn't want to answer someone). "How long are you going to avoid them for?" Ms. Choi asks. "For as long as I can" the fae finally answers. Ms. Choi tuts. Jisung sighs for what feels like the 50th time today, and looks at her. "Ms. Choi, I don't WANT to talk to them. You don't understand that they put me down whenever they see me breathe. I want to go back to Neo City. I want to get away from this place with my friends. My friends..My friends-"</p><p>"-my friends are my true family." </p><p>Ms. Choi doesn't argue back. Instead, she returns a sigh back and gets up. "Alright then. You're an adult so you can do whatever you want. Dinner will start at 5pm, so please get ready then." She bows and walks over to the door, and walks out the room. </p><p>.</p><p>Dinner, to say the least, was a bit awkward. </p><p>The group's older friends had visited them in their rooms before dinner had started. They were all wearing nice suits, with some sort of hair product in their scalp (Renjun can also see a bit of makeup on their faces too). "I hope you guys brought something nice to wear." Taeil wonders out loud as he's about to leave Renjun's room. "This is a dinner with the grim reapers, so make yourself presentable." </p><p>Luckily Renjun did bring something nice to wear; a patterned collared shirt with a black blazer and black pants. It was decent enough without it being over the top, so the human just went with it. When he came out, Jaemin was waiting for him in front of his door. The hybrid had his newly dyed black hair up and was wearing a dark red blazer with a simple white collared shirt underneath, with burgundy slacks and dark brown shoes. </p><p>Truly, a vampire. </p><p>"Ready to go?" he asks. Renjun nods, accepting Jaemin's offer to hold his arm. "Where are the others?" he asks. "They're waiting downstairs." </p><p>They meet their friends, all of them looking quite dashing in their suits that Renjun has never seen in their closets (he's pretty sure Jisung's suit was given to him by Ms. Choi because something like that would not be in his closet at home). They walk towards the dining room, talking, minding their own business, Hyo landing on Jisung's head, the fae not flinching one bit. </p><p>This time, the buffet was replaced by a long ass dining table that stretched across the room. Ms. Choi greets Jisung and his friends (and the owl on his head) and directs Jisung to the end section of the table where his parents are waiting for him. The fae's expression, was surprisingly nonchalant. Though when he started walking, Jisung left ice foot prints on the floor. Hyo turns around and looks at the frozen crystals forming on the carpet as Jisung walks off and shakes his head. "Just follow the footprints" Ms. Choi says, after watching Jisung hike off. She momentarily lost her robot facade and had the look of uneasiness on her face. The group gives her a polite smile and quickly walked off to follow Jisung. </p><p>"Yo, Frozen Hansel, you're leaving a trail" Donghyuck whispers. Jisung turns around and looks down at the footprints. He stops and looks around his surroundings of what to do. "Um" he mutters. "Unfreeze them!" Chenle whispers. People were staring at them, whispering. "I can't when there's this much left behind!" Jisung replies. Renjun looks at the trail the fae left behind. Yeah no, they were already like 15 feet away from the entrance. "Then just calm down!" Chenle says. He had put his hands on Jisung's shoulders and was shaking him. "If you survived the last 20 reunions, then I am pretty sure you can survive this one." The leprechaun stares at Jisung's face, locking his eyes in. "You can do this. I believe in you, we all believe in you. You're strong, and you know that." Jisung stares back at Chenle, then looks up at his friends. They were all giving him looks of determination. "Ok" Jisung says. "I got this, I got this! These people are just my family, everything is cool." </p><p>When they finally made it to the end of the table, Hyo flew off Jisung's head to sit with his fellow bird friends perched behind a couple. They wearing magnificent black clothing, and looked like the picture you would see in a dictionary for the word "elegant." The man was wearing a dark suit, his icy white hair pushed up, revealing the lines his forehead. The woman, had her black hair in a bun, not as tight as Ms. Choi's, but tight enough for it to not fall out of place. Her lips is bright red, and her nails were painted black. Sensing a presence, the woman had looked up at Jisung and put her fork down. "Well, well, it's nice to you see you again son. I was wondering when you were going to greet your own mother and father" she says in a smooth voice. Jisung, and his friends gulp simultaneously. Renjun gets why Jisung is so afraid of his own parents, they're intimidating as a grim reaper-ice fae couple should be. "Hi..Mom and dad" Jisung says finally. The group bows towards Mr. and Mrs. Park as a greeting. "Take a seat, you're late enough as is" Mrs. Park replies. Jisung shares a glance with his friends, and they all quickly scramble to their seats. </p><p>After scooting in, Renjun looks up and is relieved to see Kun sitting across from him. "Are you guys doing alright?" the professor asks. Renjun nods his head and smiles. "Yes, thank you for asking" he whispers back. "So Jisung," Mrs. Park speaks up. The fae jolts from the sudden speech, and accidentally freezes his water cup. He winces to himself, while his friends wince as well. His parents definitely noticed, but decide not to say anything about it. "How many invitations have you managed to pass out?" Mrs. Park asks, while cutting her steak. Jisung gulps. "Uh" he says, then mutters "3,995" Mrs. Park looks up, and gives Jisung a glare. "Jisung I can't hear you speak up, you know how much I hate it when you mumble." The fae sighs, then says it in a louder voice. "3,995." The sound of a fork and knife dropping against the table startles everyone. Renjun shares a glance with his friends and prays to whatever deity is out there (aka he stared at Taeil for help. The dragon sitting a couple of seats away only paid attention to his rice) is able to help this poor fae out. "Only 3,995? Why I thought you would be able to pass all of them out!" Mrs. Park yells. "Your cousins were able to pass all of them out you know. Yoonoh over there passed all of them out in the matter of seconds!" Mrs. Park was pointing her chopsticks at the grim reaper sitting further away, who looked up and was shaking his head. "No, no it wasn't a couple of seconds, it was actually three days-" </p><p>"Three days! And it took you how long?? A week?" Mrs. Park scolds. Yoonoh freezes and gives Jisung a apologizing glance. The fae only nods and looks at his mother. "Mom, it's my first time passing out the invitations this year" he says. "Still! You are a grim reaper!-" </p><p>"Half, I'm half a grim reaper-" </p><p>"-YOU STILL ARE ARE A GRIM REAPER, and don't you ever interrupt me again young man!" </p><p>"I'm scared" Renjun hears Donghyuck whisper to Jeno. The wolf whispers back, "me too." Honestly, everyone on this side of the table was scared, except for Taeil, who was busy placing orders for new seeds for his shop on his phone ("the guts this man has" Renjun thinks). Jisung in the meanwhile, was on the verge of tears. After his mom was shouting at her son, Mrs. Park whips her head towards her son's friends, making everyone jolt with fear. They were all looking down, avoiding eye contact. "I'm sure you boys have not met me yet, because someone had not made the effort to introduce me" Mrs. Park says, glaring at her son again. "I am Park Sami, chief officer of the Asian compartment of the Grim Reaper's Station." She then gestures towards her husband. "This my husband, Park Binghoon, assemblyman of Sul Mountains."</p><p>Assemblyman? Since when did a mountain range have a assemblyman?? </p><p>"I already know who Chenle is considering he has come here many times before, however I do not know who you people are, so tell me, by stating your name, species, and where you have came from." </p><p>..."you people"....</p><p>Jisung silently sighs to himself, and picks at his egg rolls. His mother, crosses her arms, and waits for the first <strike>victim</strike> person of Jisung's friends to introduce himself. There was a long roll of silence before Mark thankfully clears his throat to <strike>sacrifice</strike> introduce himself to the Parks. "Hello, my name is Mark Lee, and I am a vampire from Vancouver, Canada." </p><p>"Mark Lee?" Mrs. Park asks. "Do you have a Korean name?" Mark nods. "Yes ma'am, it's Minhyung. Lee Minhyung." Mrs. Park nods. "Interesting. Well it is the first time there is a bloodsucker on my table, so eat well." Renjun catches Jisung visibly cringing as soon as his mom says "bloodsucker." Mark on the other hand, gives a short laugh before thanking for his meal, then dunking a piece of chicken into his blood sauce and shoving it into his mouth. Mrs. Park turns her head towards Donghyuck. The merman jolts in surprise and bows his head. "My name is Lee Donghyuck and I am a merman from Dream City." Mr. Park perks up. "Say are you the son of Lee Sungho?" Donghyuck nods his head, smiling a little from the mention of his father. "Yes, I am" Donghyuck answers. "Congratulations on reforming Dream City, I heard your father is doing a good job at the moment" Mr. Park says. "Yes, it's nice to know that Jisung has at least one successful friend" Mrs. Park, in all honesty, unhelpfully brings up. "It gives me hope."</p><p>Now Renjun doesn't know whether or not that was supposed to mean that she's hopeful about Jisung, or if she's hopeful that her son didn't befriend a bunch of fuck ups. Truthfully, he actually hopes it's neither. </p><p>Donghyuck just replicates Mark's awkward laugh and also stuffs a bunch of rice in his mouth. Jeno introduces himself after. "I am Lee Jeno, and I am a werewolf from the Park pack in District U" he says with a eye smile. "Oh my! The controversial pack!" Mrs. Park announces. Then, she tuts. "Packs now days have so much drama. The last time I had to take someone to the afterlife was a wolf from a pack with so much abuse, that some people had died! Thank goodness yours didn't have the same fate." </p><p>Jisung coils into his neck from embarrassment. </p><p>Instead of stuffing food into his mouth, Jeno gives his best (read: most polite) eye smile, then slowly turns towards Yuta and Johnny, his eye smiles widening the more he turned. The two older wolves were staring at the woman at the end of the table in shock, mouths hanging open. Not at all affected by her own comment (in fact, this woman has the audacity to act like it was, a normal comment), Mrs. Park looks up and narrows her eyes at Renjun. "Why are you here?" is all she says to him. "There shouldn't be a human in this reunion, humans are not allowed! Unless you are a ghost of someone in a coma, which if that's the case, you should go back to your body young man." Renjun laughs nervously and gulps. "I'm actually not a spirit, nor some random human who sunk in. My name is Huang Renjun, and I am elemental human from Jilin, China." </p><p>Mrs. Park freaks Renjun out further by narrowing her eyes even more. The human leans back in his chair and stays there while Mrs. Park stares at him, as if she's trying to figure out something else about him. Then, she snaps her fingers. "Ah yes! Why of course! You were the little boy who was revived from the dead at the last second!" The clattering of utensils and plates stop in the end section of the table. Donghyuck chokes on his water and maneuvers the parts that spilled out into Mark's unused water cup, Chenle drops his chopsticks, Mark and Jeno stops mid bite, and Jisung finally looks up from his plate after staring at it for the past 20 minutes. The only people who didn't react was Jaemin, who was having trouble cutting his pork (the fat is too hard to cut through) and Jisung's father, who just got up to take a call. Mrs. Park claps her hands together. "Yes, why of course! It is nice to see you all grown up Huang Renjun. When I saw your name on the board I was heartbroken to see a little boy that was around Jisung's age that had lost his life, but luckily someone had saved you and here you are today!" she says with a bright smile. </p><p>Renjun smiles back, his nervous expression turning into a confused one. "Yes! Uh, if you don't mind me, um, what did you say about me being..dead?" Mrs. Park drops her smile into her own confused expression, then realizes something. She opens her mouth to says something but gets cut off by Doyoung storming to his seat next to Taeyong in a suit, muttering about how grim reapers are too cautious and paranoid. "What did I miss?" Doyoung asks the fire spirit. "Uh" Taeyong says. He looks back at the end of the table, then whispers something to the doctor. "He doesn't know?" he asks Taeyong. "Know what?" Renjun asks the ghost from his seat. "That I died? Did YOU know that I died? How did YOU know that I died? When did I die? How did I die? I am very confused!" </p><p>"You're not the only one Huang" Donghyuck says. Mrs. Park laughs. Like gives a genuine laugh, it scared Jisung into dropping his fork onto the ground. "You see Renjun" Mrs. Park starts. "When a human being had died due to a environmental cause, there is a period of time between when they have died, and when they will become a elemental spirit. You, were revived by a revival potion before becoming a fire spirit after getting caught in the Seoul Grand Park Campground in 2005."</p><p>"YOU WERE IN THAT FIRE!?" Chenle shouts. The whole table looks at him. "Sorry" he says, and takes a bite of his bread roll. "Anyways" Mrs. Park continues. "By natural law, when a person is revived by a revival potion, they are not to be told that they have died by the person who had given them the potion in a certain period of time, or else someone else will die. Usually that someone is related to the potion giver." Renjun furrows his eyebrows. This is news to him. "Why is that so?" he asks. "It is because of fate. You had been revived by a cheat code, and fate allowed it. The catch is, is that you have to let that person go back to their normal lives. They will forget anything supernatural that had happened to them, and anything that was traumatizing. You can not let them know that they were revived, because that person, is now in fate's hands." </p><p>Huh, it makes sense now. But who could've revived him?</p><p>Renjun could take a shot in the dark and say that Doyoung did, but he doesn't remember seeing Doyoung as a child. Then, a light bulbs turns on in his head. Renjun slowly turns towards Jaemin. The hybrid was playing with his food now, pork deserted. "Sorry you had to find out this way. I had no other choice" Jaemin mutters quietly. Though, it was loud enough for Renjun and everyone else on the table to widen their eyes, and hang their jaws open. "Who are you?" Mrs. Park asks, smiling faltering a little. Jaemin puts his fork down and turns towards the grim reaper. "My name is Na Jaemin" is all he says before he picks up his utensils again to continue his fight with the pork.</p><p>"Don't you have anything else to say??" Mark whispers. </p><p>"You revived me?" Renjun says, not whispering. Jaemin sighs and puts his utensils back down again. He grabs Renjun's hands and looks at him in the eyes. "I'll tell you about this after dinner ok? It's going to be long, so it's better if I explain the story to you after." Then, the hybrid (while still holding one of Renjun's hands mind you), turns back towards Jisung's mom. She had her arms crossed, her facial expression letting Jaemin know that she is waiting for further information about him. "I do not need to tell you my species because you must already know who I am" Jaemin says. Mrs. Park tuts. "Excuse me? Such rude manners! Did your parents tell you to speak like that?!" </p><p>"My parents, are dead." </p><p>Jisung eyes Jaemin from the side. Jeno furrows his eyebrows at the hybrid. Mrs. Park raises a eyebrow, and leans back against her chair. "Really? Well, who were your parents? I bet I should know them if they have died" she says. "Na Junghoon and Ahn Youngmi" Jaemin answers. Jisung turns around to see his mother's reaction. He becomes surprised when he notices the eyes of his mother, widening a bit. She opens her mouth to says something, but then gets interrupted when one of her fellow officers  comes bursting into the dining room, and speeds up to her. </p><p>"Officer Park! We have an emergency!" he says, as he had bow towards the grim reaper. "Is it such as emergency that you had to use your spirit speed to interrupt my family's reunion dinner!?" Mrs. Park demanded, hitting the table with her fists. The officer straighten up and nods his head. "Yes ma'am! The DokZuZhi are said to come in two days for a surprise attack on Daebing mountain!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for Reading!</p><p>
  <a href="https://linktr.ee/monchick">linktree</a>
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        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0044"><h2>44. 29. Dealing With the DokZuZhi and the Grim Reapers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jisung and the Dreamies engage in their first fight with the DokZuZhi on Sul Mountains</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>mmMMMmmM, helLO!</p>
<p>Sorry I just woke up from a very MINI MINI MINI nap so I feel like I am drunk</p>
<p>Even though I am underage</p>
<p>Thank chu so much for coming back to reading the story! Means a lot for you guys to come back and read some more huhuhu</p>
<p>Make sure to check out this linktree for resources for combating AAPI hate cause we don't like racist people, and listen to this Spotify playlist I made for this story (feel free to give song suggestions huhu) </p>
<p>Thanks beauty ;)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <a href="https://linktr.ee/monchick">Linktree</a><br/><a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0er4pY7bsIweImO6SrN8zK">Neo City Playlist</a></p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After dinner, the group meets in Jisung's room. </p>
<p>Donghyuck walks in and slams the door close behind him and begins pacing around with his hands on his head. "Ok" he starts. "This is too much to take in. First off, the DokZuZhi are coming and we are expected to get ready to fight them on a TWO DAY NOTICE. Second, apparently Jaemin and Renjun met as kids and were somewhat involved in the 2005 fire at the Seoul Grand Park Campground, which now that I think about it, it's not that surprising to me considering how you both are so lovey dovey to each other??" </p>
<p>Robert interrupts his thoughts by quacking at Donghyuck besides him. "Mark! The crackers!" the merman shouts. Mark, sitting on the ottoman in front of Jisung's bed, digs around his pockets for one of Robert's crackers. When he finds one, he takes it out and hands it to Donghyuck, who instead of taking it, stared at him with a unsatisfied expression. Mark sighs and takes out another piece and gives it to Donghyuck. The merman takes it from him and gives one to Robert and starts to munch on the other one. </p>
<p>"The forest thing is something for me and Jaem to discuss alone" Renjun says. He takes a quick look at Hyo, then takes a double take at the bird when he noticed it was sitting right besides him, staring. "Hyo, he's not the one with the crackers" Jisung says, from the desk. Hyo looks at Jisung, then at Mark. The vampire takes out a cracker then feeds it to Hyo who flaps his great wings then flies over to where Jisung is to enjoy his cracker on the desk. "Well you can talk about the being dead thing alone with him, but I think you should tell us what happened BEFORE the fire" Jeno tells him. Renjun looks at Jaemin. The hybrid only shrugs, and gestures to go ahead. The cat's already out of the bag, so there's no use in keeping it a secret anymore. "Ok then" Renjun says. "Let me tell you, start to finish." </p>
<p>And so Renjun does. When he finishes, Donghyuck was clapping his hands like a romantic sicken seal. "Are you..crying?" Chenle asks, pointing out the tear forming in the corner of the merman's eye. "It's a beautiful story, so I am allowed to cry" he says, and wipes the tear away with his pointer finger. Renjun rolls his eyes and crosses his legs. He was sitting on Jisung's bed with Jaemin on his right, and Jeno to his left. Donghyuck was squished next to Mark on the ottoman, which is now pushed out to the side to make a triangle with the bed and the desk where Jisung and Chenle were sitting at. "How come you never told us that you guys met before?" Jeno asks. "The story you just laid out was pretty detailed." </p>
<p>"Like Mrs. Park had said, the side effects of the revival potion is forgetfulness of anything supernatural" Jaemin explains. He turns towards Renjun and grabs his hands. "And I promise to talk to you about it in my room ok?" He was probably feeling Renjun's thirst for unsolved curiosity right next to him. "Don't worry I know you will" he says. "Yeah, you kinda have to now" Chenle adds right after. Renjun glares at Chenle for his unnecessary comment, then asks the rest of the group what they're going to do about the DokZuZhi. Mrs. Park had asked Taeil to work with the grim reapers on a plan. The dragon, had answered he will, if she would allow also Doyoung, Taeyong, and his "assistants" to join this plan as well. The assistants of course, being the group. </p>
<p>"I'm not sure, we're just going to have to wait until tomorrow morning" Mark says. He turns to Jisung. "Do you have any ideas on what your mom is going to have us do?" Jisung shakes his head. "She doesn't even know that those "assistants" are us. I never told her we do spirit hunting, and I prefer not to tell her directly." Renjun tilts his head. "Why not?" Mrs. Park seems the kind of person who might be interested in the fact that Jisung does spirit revival. She looked pretty happy about Renjun being revived, so why not be happy about what Jisung's doing? "I would tell her about it, but I don't want her finding about those stupid ice bombs, and she finds out about everything quick" Jisung explains. The ice bombs are another tool Taeil had bestowed upon the group. It is the only tool that is yet to be figured out, and is one of the hardest to control. Jisung had been having trouble with them since the start, and though he rarely uses them,  the fae ends up freezing everything that is within 20 ft of him to the ground, or each other. Clearly, anyone can see that Jisung is not fond of those little silver balls that hang from a tied leather strap he wears as a bracelet. </p>
<p>"Who cares if she doesn't like them. She has to understand, that you're still learning, and learning never stops" Renjun says. "Yeah, well I've been learning for almost 21 years and I still don't know anything" Jisung rebuts. Jaemin frowns. "That's not true, you weren't able to fight using your powers before. Remember your final exam as a high schooler? I'm sorry, but it was pitiful seeing you fumble around with those potion bottles." Jeno nods his head in agreement. "Yeah, and think about it now. You're able to melt stuff, you're able to freeze large items, and most importantly, you're using your powers in fights." </p>
<p>"But I can't freeze stuff strong enough to hold it without passing out. I haven't perfected the slithering method the ice spirits use when they're attacking." Mark furrows his eyebrows. "Slithering method? You mean when ice spirits stick to the ground and move to attack a person like a snake? That's something a fae can do?" he asks, his eyes enlarging into circles. "Professor Qian told us about the slithering method last year" Donghyuck explains. "They can't just stick to the ground and become a snake like ice spirits, but they can slide on the ground fast enough to knock a few people over. It's more of a living sled rather then a snake." </p>
<p>"I never seen you do that before" Chenle says, petting Hyo on the head with a finger. "He tried in class, but he couldn't concur enough ice to coat himself" Renjun says. He waves his hands and shakes his head. "That's not the point anyways. Tomorrow morning, you're going to stand strong and confirm that you are a spirit reviver at that meeting tomorrow. If we, especially Jaemin and Jeno who have been with you since you were like 3, say that you are improving, then you are improving." He tells this to Jisung, while pointing a finger at the fae. The fae doesn't do much as a reaction, but sigh. "Sure, thanks hyungs. It's getting late, let's get some sleep." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Renjun can't sleep with the thought of the meeting tomorrow, it's too nerve wracking. </p>
<p>But now, he has another fish to fry. One that's slightly bigger and much more full of explanation and talking. </p>
<p>"Ok" Jaemin says once he closes the door. All of the guest rooms look the same. Jaemin's room looks exactly the same as Renjun's, with the exception of a missing Pangxie on the desk and the closed curtains on the window (vampires who aren't turned, don't get bothered by the sun, Jaemin just hates the sun out of personal spite). "So, where should I start" the hybrid asks. Renjun shrugs, his arms crossed. "I don't know, how about the part where I died?" he asked. It came out a bit more harsh then he intended it to be. He isn't really mad that Jaemin kept this a secret from him. In fact, more of his questions had just been answered by that talk on the dinner table so he's glad he found out. It's just, weird hearing that you died when you yourself didn't know. </p>
<p>Jaemin explains to Renjun, start to finish, of what had happened to the shorter at the forest. The fire spirit, Doyoung, the Moon Cherry Blossom, the potion. The part where Jaemin had to give half of his spirit essence up for Renjun so he could survive. "Wait, so that's why you're half vampire?" Renjun asks. Jaemin nods. "Please don't mind me for asking, but I've noticed you're..weaker then most vampires and wolves. Aren't you supposed to be a bit stronger since you have the abilities of both?" Jaemin shakes his head. "Giving up my spirit essence means I lost something. Instead of my abilities being mixed together in a pot, it's more like putting them in two separate pots, then placing them into one container. Without mixing them, and without them spilling into each other." Renjun's blood runs cold. He places his hands onto the bed he and Jaemin are sitting on. They were on his chin before, but now it feels like something is weighing them down with a anchor. "So..you gave up, half of you..for me?" Renjun asks, voice weak. Jaemin nods. </p>
<p>"But..why?" </p>
<p>"Because I couldn't let you die Renjun." </p>
<p>"Wait then, w-who gave you back the spirit essence to live?" he asks. His voice cracked and it feels like there's going to be tears falling out at any moment. Is he going to cry? It feels like he's going to cry. Jaemin scoots closer to Renjun, and holds his hands. He begins rubbing it with his thumb in comforting circles. "Doyoung hyung did. He told me that ghosts have unlimited spirit essence so it was fine." A tear rolled down Renjun's cheek. "B-but, what if Doyoung hyung wasn't there? What would've happened if you just gave up-" Renjun gets interrupted by a kiss. "We just met, I didn't want to let you go just yet" Jaemin whispers. Renjun sniffs. "But, I was going back to China." The hybrid in front of him chuckles. "Yes, but at the very least you'd be alive. At the least, I would bump into you someday, and stick with you." He gives another peck on the human's forehead, then leans against it with his own. "Is that why I was in the hospital?" Jaemin leans back, making Renjun miss the heat on his forehead. "Hospital? You remembered the hospital?" Renjun nodded. "It was a memory that came up not too long ago." </p>
<p>"Really? When? How?" Jaemin asks. Renjun opens his mouth to tell, but then closes it. It came up when he was locked in that room with the Hallucination Nightmare flower in District V. It'll pain Jaemin to tell the truth, so Renjun just smiles instead. "In a dream" he says, then hugs the hybrid before the other could ask more. </p>
<p>"Thank you" Renjun whispers. He buries his head in the crook of Jaemin's neck as the hybrid put his arms to hug him back. "Thank you for coming back to me" Jaemin says back. </p>
<p>They went to sleep together in Renjun's room since they didn't want Pangxie to be alone.</p>
<p>That night, Jaemin didn't have any nightmares, but a very nice dream of Renjun laughing and being happy. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"Why are you people here?" </p>
<p>Again with the "you people." </p>
<p>"We're here for the DokZuZhi meeting Mrs. Park" Renjun says. Mrs. Park furrows her eyebrows, then looks up at Ms. Choi for some answers. "They have claimed to be the assistants Deity Moon had mentioned last night ma'am" she says. Mrs. Park tuts and crosses her arms. The papers in her hand crash against her armpit, and are sticking out in her hand. "How could you have believed them Ms. Choi?! Why, they are just 20 years old! You need to have a, a, a degree to be a spirit revivalist or heck, a low level god!" she exclaims. "Then what was I doing in middle school" Jaemin mutters to himself. He turns when Renjun giggles, making him smile as well. "And besides, if Jisung was a spirit revivalist, he should've told me so!" </p>
<p>"Well, I'm sorry he didn't Chief Park." The group turns. Mrs. Park widens her eyes and bows towards Taeil. The dragon bows back, Taeyong and Doyoung bowing behind him. "Ms. Choi is right though, these are the assistants I mentioned earlier" he says once he straightens back up. He gestures towards the group, then Doyoung and Taeyong. "These boys, along with these two are the people who actually do the revival stuff. I just help out when I'm needed." Doyoung steps out from behind Taeil and bows towards Mrs. Park. "Hello Mrs. Park. I am Dr. Kim Dongyoung from the Neo City Hospital. I work as a doctor in the cardiovascular ward and as a spirit revivalist. Your son and his friends has been doing this since their early years of college." He points to Jaemin specifically. "Na Jaemin especially, have been doing this since he was 12 years old." Then, he points to Taeyong. "My boyfriend Lee Taeyong was recently revived and has also been assisting me in the revivals." </p>
<p>"Say aren't you the ghost who Ms. Choi had brought in for interrogations?" Mrs. Park asks. Doyoung sighs, momentarily dropping his polite gestures. He was gone yesterday for literally, 8 hours for who knows what. It was worrying Renjun a bit, but thank goodness he came back in one shape. "Yes, I have my birth certificate don't worry, my mom brought it over." That sounded sarcastic, but considering how long Doyoung was gone for, Renjun decides that the ghost is actually telling the truth. "Let's go in Chief Park" Taeil says, motioning towards the meeting room behind them. They were on a patio of another building behind the house. It was much smaller, and the rooms were used for more meetings and recreation rather then general living. Mrs. Park nods her head. She gestures at Ms. Choi at the door, the latter rushing to the meeting room and opening the door for the meeting attendees to walk inside. </p>
<p>The room looked like a typical meeting room should look like. It had a long table in the middle, with a white board on the back wall and a large rectangular window on the right. Renjun can see the pine trees and the snow sitting outside. When he squints, the humans spots fairies tending to their icy business in their small form. "So what's happening? Why are the DokZuZhi coming here to attack?" Taeil asks as he's sitting down. Mrs. Park offered him the center seat at the front, but he declined it and is sitting at the first seat next to the center one on the left. "It seems to be that the DokZuZhi are heading towards here for our rehabilitation center. Our intelligence back at the station had told us they will be using the spirits for some sort of plan they are forming." </p>
<p>"Do you know what that plan is?" </p>
<p>"No Deity Moon, our officers are finding out as we speak." </p>
<p>"Some sort of plan.." Renjun thinks to himself. It's been about two months since the Jo Ahyoung mishap in Dream City. Her plan at the time, was to take over Dream City for quote on quote, "world domination in the name of the DokZuZhi." Were they planning to do the same to Daebing Mountain? Why? Also, Daebing Mountain seems like a harder target, why didn't they invade it first? Or last? </p>
<p>Jaemin seemed to be having the same thoughts as Renjun, and spoke up to ask those questions. "Well it could be because of revenge and anger" Mrs. Park answers. Donghyuck furrows his eyebrows. "Revenge?" he asks. Then he snaps his fingers. "Revenge! When I was fighting Jo Ahyoung alone, she kept mentioning avenging her family's name, and 'making up for what is lost', but I don't understand why how she would do that by taking over some merperson town." Mrs. Park leans in, with her arms on the table. "I'm sorry, what did you say? You fought with Jo Ahyoung?" Donghyuck nods his head. The whole group did. Mrs. Park looks at Jisung, but the fae avoids her and looks out the window behind them. "Anyways, the Jos didn't have that greatest past." Taeil interrupts. Mrs. Park leans back and nods her head. "Yes indeed. The Jos had suffered a tragic fate during Japan's occupation in Korea in District U." Renjun tilts his head. "What happened to them?" he asks. </p>
<p>"The head of their family, Jo Jungho was the general of the human army force that had attacked the supernaturals in District U" Mrs. Park explains. "After killing the head of the family in charge of District U, many of the supernaturals went into the human world to kill off Jo Jungho. The family of the man who was killed, went a extra step further and killed the rest of the Jo family using poisonous gas." Renjun glances up, and sees Jeno and Jisung eyeing Jaemin from where they were sitting. Their faces looked neutral, but their eyes held suspicion to them. Suddenly Ms. Choi comes rushing towards Mrs. Park from the corner she was standing from the back of the room, and hands her a packet of papers tucked neatly into a clipboard binder. "You said that Jo Ahyoung was the last person that you have fought?" Mrs. Park asks Donghyuck. The merman nods his head. Mrs. Park turns towards Doyoung. "Who had they fought before Jo Ahyoung?" </p>
<p>"Jo Hyungil." </p>
<p>"Ah yes I see. They are going down by age" Mrs. Park says. She flips through the numerous papers that were in her hand and taps one the one she was looking for. "The next Jos that we must keep an eye out for are the twins, Jo Ahrim, and Jo Daeshim." She hands the binder back to Ms. Choi. "I am sure you are aware of who they are yes?" she asks. Well, she specifically asked Taeil, and not anyone else on the table. "Yes, so is Doyoung and Taeyong" Taeil responds. "However the boys do not know who they are." </p>
<p>"Well, with our plan they don't really need to know about them." Mrs. Park nods towards Ms. Choi. The latter nods back and swiftly walks to the back of the room. She turns off the lights and turns on the projector in the middle of the table with a remote, and brings a laptop seemingly out of nowhere. On the white board shown two faces. One was a girl who looked to be around the boys' age. She had her long hair in a braid, which sat on the left side of her shoulder. The other picture was a boy with the same small nose, big eyes, and small lips as the girl next to him. He had his bangs pushed to one side of his face. Both of them looked like they were about to murder the photographer with a blink of a eye. "These are the twins, Jo Ahrim and Jo Daeshim. When these photos were taken, they were about 15 years old, which is when we last saw them. They should be around 25 today" Ms. Choi explains. </p>
<p>"The twins are Jo Ahyoung's younger siblings and Jo Hyungil's second oldest children." She explains further. Ms, Choi then clicks her mouse to go to the next slide. It showed pictures taken afar of revived elemental agents, the color of their elemental shining brightly in their hair and skin against the bright white snow. "Recently we have found sightings of revived elemental spirits sneaking off to these locations in the Sul Mountains" Ms. Choi reports. She clicks to the next slide to a map. Blue X's marked where the agents had gone off to. Renjun furrows his eyebrows. The placements of the X's look somewhat familiar. He looks at his friends, and they all seem to have the same thought. "Our plan will be to investigate these places further" Mrs. Park says. "In the meantime, we need Dr. Kim, Lee Taeyong, and their assistants to do something for us." </p>
<p>"What would you like us to do?" Doyoung asks. "I am aware of what you do for a living. You revive spirits, so surely you know how their thought process works" Mrs. Park says. "Well yes, we even have a revived spirit sitting next to me" Doyoung says, pointing a thumb next to Taeyong. The fire spirit chuckles nervously and waves a hello to Mrs. Park. "Good, because we need your expertise in this field." The projector turns off, and the lights turn back on. "Dr. Kim, I will put you in charge of training the spirits of our rehabilitation center to fight back against the spirits of the DokZuZhi" Mrs. Park says. The aforementioned doctor raises his eyebrows and coughs out of shock. "I'm sorry, y-you want us to..t-train your rehabilitated spirits to fight?" Mrs. Park, no signs of her joking on her face, nods. "The DokZuZhi utilizes their spirits to fight their enemies. With our side only having non spirited beings, we will not be able to go up against their side, especially when we try to be extra careful not to hurt the spirits." Mrs. Park receives another binder clipboard from Ms. Choi, and hands it to Doyoung to see. Taeyong and Taeil leans towards him to look at it, as the doctor opens it up.  "These are the spirits we will like you to train. We already got their permission, so we won't have to do this without their consent." </p>
<p>Doyoung only nods lightly as a response. Renjun can only watch in uneasiness as the ghost's face grows more worried as he reads through the names and flips through the pages. Once he's done, Doyoung claps the binder close and shoots a hesitant glance towards Taeil. Surprisingly, the dragon also seemed to be a bit anxious. "Uh, Mrs. Park. We understand your tactic-" Taeil starts up as he goes back to sit down. "-but I gotta tell you that these folks specialize in taking care of elemental spirits..Not..training them to be weapons." </p>
<p>"Oh we're not going to be using them as weapons!" Mrs. Park says. "We understand that these spirits are living beings as well! Why do you think we have a rehabilitation center?" Doyoung clears his throat, causing the grim reaper to turn her head. "Well you see Mrs. Park that's the thing. These spirits are part of a center that helps them to get stronger for themselves, not to fight others." Mrs. Park waves him off. Jisung momentarily glares at his mom before quickly shifting back into his neutral expression before she can notice. "The names on this list are the spirits who had fully recovered." Mrs. Park sighs. "Then how about, Ms. Choi and I can take you to the rehabilitation center to see these spirits?" Renjun didn't like the tone of her voice. It sounded like she thought the people on this table was going to agree with her plan without a doubt, as if she was sure that they had thought the same as them. It sounds like she's extremely disappointed with Taeil's and Doyoung's reactions, and is even considering to pick someone else to work with her, someone who is surely going to agree with her. </p>
<p>"Ms. Choi, let's show them the Rehabilitation Center." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The Rehabilitation Center was huge.</p>
<p>It was more like a Olympic style gym rather then a center. Spirits of all elements are flying through hoops, jumping over obstacles, racing each other in lanes. Some where practicing using their powers by shooting towards targets, others were trying to get used to their own environments with mini simulators in the back of the gym. Bystanders can watch in awe behind the safety of the padding wall, either standing up, or sitting down on the chairs against the wall. "Holy shit" Mark mutters.</p>
<p>"Hyungs! Chenle! Jisung!" </p>
<p>The group turns around towards a Sungchan and a Shotaro watching the spirits a couple feet away from them. "Oh hey! How'd you guys get here?" Donghyuck asks as the group walks up to them. "We asked if we can watch the spirits work here, and they allowed us" Sungchan explains. He looks back at the scene before him and watches a earth spirit dodging tennis balls from a machine. "I uh, kinda came here before coming to the hospital, wanted to experience some nostalgia" he says. "Really now? Were you able to get stronger?" Doyoung asks, leaning on the padding wall with the younger. Sungchan nods. "Oh yeah! The coaches here are really helpful and nice. I'm glad a place like this exists. Sure they were tough, but they helped." Mrs. Park pitches in; "Well I'm glad they were able to help you Jung Sungchan." She gives a knowing smile towards Doyoung before gesturing towards the others in the group. "Feel free to watch from all sides gentlemen. This, is the future of medical assistance and fighting of elemental spirits." </p>
<p>Everyone began to watch the spirits from different angles. Renjun stayed in the middle of the arena and watched a couple of spirits try some flying exercises. He notices, upon closer inspection, that these particular spirits, had smaller cores then others. "4.2 seconds! Getting better Mr. Ahn" the flying coach says. She gestures towards the next spirit, a water spirit, to go next. The water spirit zooms towards the target, and back. "5.9 seconds. Pick up the pace Aiko!" Renjun watches the spirits further, before his eyes drifted to the third spirit next in line. "It's the ice spirit from Taeil hyung's place!" Renjun thinks. The ice spirit senses someone staring at it and turns its head. It glows with delight when it sees Renjun and waves its tail. Renjun happily waves back, smiling. "Come on Yewon!" the coach shouts. The ice spirit jolts from being startled and slowly floats towards the start. It takes a moment to get ready, then zooms towards the target. Renjun winces when it collides with the spirit and falls. "Get up Yewon, we're not going to stop this until you get under 8 seconds!" the coach says. </p>
<p>"And without getting a concussion" Renjun hears her grumble under her breath.</p>
<p>"Yewon" seemed to have gone through this before, judging by her coaches disappointed, but not surprised, reaction. The ice spirit floats back up, and begrudgingly floats back to the start. She looks at Renjun, who gives her a smile of determination. "Come on, you experienced worse before. You can do this" the smile says. Yewon nods, and looks at the target. She bumps in to the target again. </p>
<p>"Come on Yewon! You did it yesterday! What happened?" </p>
<p>"What's going on over here?" Jeno asks, coming over with Chenle. They wince with Renjun when Yewon bumps into the target for the third time. "Is that the ice spirit Taeil hyung was taking care of?" Chenle asks. Renjun nods. "She seems to be having a hard time." The fourth time around, Yewon was able to make it back without bumping into the target, but her time was a bit slower then the other spirits. "8.7! Try again, make it in 5 seconds at least!"</p>
<p>Yewon tries again. </p>
<p>"9.1! Come on! Faster!" </p>
<p>And again.</p>
<p>"8.8! Get it down to 7 seconds at least!" </p>
<p>At this time Taeil, Jaemin, and Taeyong had joined Renjun in the middle. Taeil sighed and shook his head. "They're giving her such a hard time" he says. Yewon crashes into the target. "You don't say" Jaemin says. "Her spirit is only a couple years old" Taeil responds. Renjun turns towards him. "What do you mean?" he asks. He turns back when he hears the coach shouting at Yewon like a owner shouting at their dog. "Don't give me that look Yewon! You are going to get 7 seconds without crashing into the target! Everyone else, do something else! I'm working with Yewon alone." The ice spirit's core had gotten weaker then what it was from the beginning. Renjun could tell by the fading light from her already small core in her middle. "Yewon was only 12 years old when she died" Taeil says nonchalantly. "That spirit is only a child." </p>
<p>Another crash. Clearly, Yewon looks like she's going to be killed any moment. Her state is slowly starting to change back to when Renjun first met her. Shot by a spirit bullet, laid on the floor left to die. "We should do something" Chenle says. The rest of the group agrees. They move to help Yewon, but gets stopped by Mrs. Park. "Do not worry about Nam Yewon" she says. "This is really a part of our training process." </p>
<p>"Your training process is beating a spirit up until they're one second from dying??" Jaemin asks. Mrs. Park furrows her eyebrows and glares at the hybrid. "Why of course not. We also have medical standby if a spirit needs it!" She turns towards Yewon. The ice spirit was floating, catching up on its stamina. "The only way for a being to stronger, is to go through all of the odds" Mrs. Park says, her back turned towards Renjun and them. "Only then, are they able to succeed." After gaining her stamina back, Yewon looks up and spins around in a circle. It charges up, then speeds towards the target and back. The coach stops her stopwatch. "8.1 seconds. You can do another round come on I know you can do it" she says. Renjun and the rest of the group slowly walks back next to Mrs. Park. They watch closely, as Yewon tiredly floats in space. The group anticipates her last run, as she gets ready to do it. </p>
<p>But she never did.</p>
<p>Instead of flying towards the target, the ice spirit slowly starts to float towards the ground. Her spirit core blinking in and out. "Wha-, what's happening?" Renjun asks worriedly towards Jaemin. The hybrid only shakes his head. "Mrs. Park please, help her she's going to die." </p>
<p>"She's going to be just f-" </p>
<p>"NO, she WON'T Mrs. Park." </p>
<p>Mrs. Park whips her head towards Jaemin. "You dare to question my knowledge about spirits? I have you know grim reapers have expert familiarity with elemental spirits, more then you, Na Jaemin." </p>
<p>"Come on Yewon! More! Do one more!" the coach is heard shouting. </p>
<p>"No, no, no, no, don't let her anymore, she looks tired!" Renjun thinks. He looks back. Jeno, Taeyong, and Chenle were also on the verge of jumping the padded wall while Jaemin and Mrs. Park argue. Taeil only watches in fear, his arms tightly crossed on his chest. </p>
<p>"She's going to be ok!" </p>
<p>"No she won't!" </p>
<p>"More Yewon! FLOAT UP LET'S GO!!" </p>
<p>Renjun hears a scream from the other side of the room as he manages to see Yewon fall to the ground from the corner of his eye. "NO!" he shouts, and attempts to cross the padded wall with Jeno, Chenle, Taeyong, Taeil, and Jaemin. Though as soon as they were about to put one leg over the wall, they see a sheet of ice floating above the floor, catching Yewon's fall. Renjun looks up. Jisung was on the other side of the arena, his hand reaching into the flying section, holding onto some sort of handle that was connected to the sheet of ice. His chest was heaving up and down. Donghyuck, Mark, Doyoung Shotaro, and Sungchan, with the fae on the other side, looked at the fallen ice spirit with widen eyes, and the look of panic spread across their faces. The whole gym had froze to watch Jisung slowly reel in Yewon. He creates some sort of ice net for the ice spirit to rest in, then puts his fingers in his mouth to make a whistle. From the entrance, Hyo swoops into the arena flying to where Jisung is. The fae whispers something to the owl, then lets him take the net to bring it to wherever the fae told Hyo to take it to. After watching Hyo fly off with Yewon in the ice net, Jisung looks at his friends on the other side of the gym, then at his mother. He glares at her, his eyes flashing a icy white in his pupils. </p>
<p>"That's enough mother" is what his eyes seem to say. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The group, Doyoung, Taeil, and Taeyong follow Jisung out of the arena to back to his bedroom. When the fae opens his door, Hyo was waiting on his his desk chair, the ice net in his beak. "Good bird" Jisung whispers and pets Hyo on the head. He starts to create a bowl made of ice, then places it on the floor away from any light. Donghyuck uses his elemental to fill the water up with water. Hyo flies over to where the bowl is, and gently lowers the net into the bowl. "Jisung, give me your scissors" Doyoung says. Jisung runs over to his desk to grab a pair of scissors and hands it over to the doctor. Doyoung takes them and cuts open his finger, then lets his blood drip into the bowl. The red droplets turn bright blue as soon as they hit the water. Jisung comes around and freezes the bowl a bit more to make sure Yewon is comfortable. The young spirit sighs a breath of relief, making the rest of the people in the room sigh their own breath of relief. </p>
<p>"So we're all gonna agree that Mrs. Park's plan is a no go right?" Donghyuck asks, breaking the quiet atmosphere. "Yup" Taeil says. "Spirits like how Sungchan was before would be able to follow with that plan, but most of every spirit in that arena are like Yewon. We cannot risk any of them in battle." Renjun nods his head. It's stupid to use a being in the middle of healing for fighting. Sure it's giving the DokZuZhi the taste of their own medicine, but at what cost are they willing to sacrifice these spirits? "Plus, we don't keep the healed spirits here" Jisung says, getting up. Taeyong looks up. "What? There isn't? But your mom-" </p>
<p>"My mom likes to think up out of the ordinary plans" Jisung says, digging through his desk for something. When he doesn't find it, he just sighs and gets back up. "She doesn't think about the plan and only cares if it succeeds and if it goes her way" he says, petting Hyo's head. "So? What should we do?" Jaemin asks. "We can't use your mom's plan, it's awful." Jisung shrugs. "If I were being honest? Nothing except for just fighting back. We can't really do anything without the Grim Reaper Force's help." Renjun tilts his head. "What about your dad? Isn't he the assemblyman of Sul Mountains?" he asks. "For Sul Mountains, not for Daebing Mountain" Jisung says. "Daebing Mountain is grim reaper territory, no one from the Sul Mountains wants to touch it." </p>
<p>"Does anyone remember anything from the presentation?" Mark asks. "We could probably use something from there for our own plan." The room goes silent for a bit. "Well, the information we have is that the next Jos that are coming to attack us are the twins" Doyoung says. "Do you know anything about them other then the fact they look like they can kill with their laser eye stare?" Renjun asks. "We know that they fight together" Taeil says. "One is usually not seen without the other. If we can get them separated, then we will be able to defeat them." Taeyong makes a face of hesitation. "I don't know hyung. Remember the last time we tried to separate them? It wasn't fun." He turns towards the boys. "Anything else you guys remember?" he asks. "I remember the map that they showed us. The ones with the X's" Jeno replies. "Something about it looks familiar, but I can't exactly put my finger on it." </p>
<p>"THAT'S IT!" Chenle suddenly shouts. "What, that Jeno can't put a finger on a map? Chenle, there's no need to make fun of Jeno's lack of abilities to put a finger on a map" Donghyuck jokes. Jeno taps him on the shoulder. The merman turns around, then squeals when Jeno squeezes his nose. "STOP! MY PRECIOUS SMALL NOSE!" he shouts, holding his nose. Chenle shakes his head. "No, no, I'm talking about the X's on the map. Those are the revival machines the DokZuZhi are planning to plant around the Mountains!" Renjun widens his eyes and claps his hands together. Now that he thinks about it, the placement of the revival machines in Dream City, were exactly the same as the placements of the X's on the map they were just shown. All four items were placed at the outer corners of the location, away from the middle. "They must be placed like that so the DokZuZhi can contain the people within the area" Doyoung says. Taeil nods his head. "Ok listen up. Until Mrs. Park is willing to not go with the spirit plan, we are not going to tell them about this information. If she finds out, who knows what's shes going to do with the spirits. It's possible she could try revive them herself." </p>
<p>"For now, just stay low. Stay away from any grim reaper you see. We will start investigating the machines tonight." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Jisung gives a unamused stare at the bird sitting in front of him. </p>
<p>"Hyo just eat the gosh darn cracker" he says.The little meeting in his room just ended a while a go, and it's time for Hyo to eat something to prevent anyone's eyes being pecked out from hunger. The bird doesn't do anything else, but narrows his eyes at the fae. Jisung sighs and drops his hand. "Of course I'm going through with this. I don't like my mom's plan either." Hyo relaxes his eyes, and tilts his head 90 degrees. It doesn't faze Jisung a bit. He was scared of the owl when he was first gifted to him as a child, but now he's gotten used to Hyo's weird extendable neck. "Yes, I'm still afraid of her" Jisung says. He breaks off a piece of the cracker and feeds it to Hyo. "When have I never been afraid of her." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"I like this place much more then the Park Pack's Manor" Renjun says. The human and Donghyuck got bored, and decided to walk aimlessly around the mansion. It's been a long time since Renjun got to hang out with the merman. Ever since their time at Dream City, Donghyuck had gotten a bit busier with his dad becoming the mayor, so the human wasn't able to go the mall, have a simple lunch, or do Jungwoo's strange food gathering missions together. </p>
<p>Don't tell the merman, but Renjun kinda missed spending time with him. </p>
<p>"Yeah, at least this place isn't a looping labyrinth" Donghyuck laughs. </p>
<p>They would walk around and talk some more before ending up near the entrance of the mansion. In one of the hallways, they spot Jisung speaking with Hyo, the bird sitting on a stand while the fae occasionally feeds him crackers. Hyo notices Renjun and Donghyuck walking towards him and Jisung and decides to greet them, by extending his neck towards them.To Jisung, this is just Hyo's normal way of greeting people. To Renjun and Donghyuck however, its a terrifying bird's head coming towards them at fast speed. </p>
<p>"Oh god!" Donghyuck exclaims. Hyo's head stops right in front of Renjun and Donghyuck, the pair hugging each other, their eyes widen from being startled by the sudden visit of this bird's..head. Don't even get me started on Hyo's neck, it's like as if someone had held a very long chopstick from one end of the room to the other. "H-hi, H-hyo!" Renjun greets. "Hyo come back, I need to feed you the rest of the cracker or else the other birds will take it" Jisung calmly says from a far. With that, Hyo slowly retracts, keeping his big eyes on the pair as he does so. When the owl finally reattaches his head to his body, Donghyuck and Renjun walk over to his stand and watch Jisung feed Hyo the last of his cracker. "Can you please tell him not to do that?" Donghyuck asks. Jisung turns towards the merman and gives him a dead stare. "Can you please tell your fish not to stare into my soul every time we visit Dream City?" </p>
<p>"She's a curious fish!" </p>
<p>"He's a curious bird!" </p>
<p>"Both of your pets are unsettling" Renjun says. Jisung and Donghyuck turns towards Renjun. He had his arms crossed and his eyes closed. He opens one and sees the both of them giving him a glare. "What? It's true!" he says, dropping his arms and opening both eyes. "Ask Jeno, he's the one who was more startled then the both you combined." </p>
<p>"Young Master Park! Young Master Park!" The trio turns their heads towards two people, the woman wearing the same uniform as Ms. Choi, and the man wearing a black vest, complementing his slacks. "Young Master Park! You must come outside quick! They're here! They've come early!" Jisung furrows his eyebrows. "Who has come early?" he asks. </p>
<p>"The DokZuZhi!!" </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The front yard was a war zone.</p>
<p>Spirits and beings alike were fighting each other as if it was their only chance to live. Before Renjun could even blink, he had seen a swirl of orange, black, purple, and white colors in front of him. </p>
<p>Crashing into the wall next to the door was Chenle. The leprechaun looks up and greets the trio at the doorway. "About time you showed up!" he says. "What the hell happened??" Donghyuck asks as he and Jisung help Chenle up. Chenle pats himself down, and ducks to avoid a rock hitting his head. The rock, hits the wall and crumbles. Renjun catches a branch from a bush next to him from the corner of his eye and uses it to create a weak rope. He launches it towards the Earth spirit, wrangling it as if it was cattle and swings it into a DokZuZhi agent, coming to fight them from the side. "I don't know! Didn't your mom say they were supposed to come in two days!?" Chenle asks Jisung. The fae opens his mouth to answer, but all that came out was-</p>
<p>"DUCK!" </p>
<p>The four crouch down. Renjun turns around and sees the whole doorway frozen. He looks back to the front. A large ice spirit was floating in front of them, and wasn't going to wait for the boys to finish their conversation. It launches another ice strike at them, cutting the four in half. Renjun and Jisung go to one way, and Chenle and Donghyuck go the other. The ice spirit looks left and right, and decides to go after Donghyuck and Chenle. It launched another strike, causing Donghyuck to trip into the snow. "God it's freezing!" he exclaims. While he gets up, Chenle raises walls from the ground and creates a box for him and Donghyuck to hide in. "Hyung where's your bells?"</p>
<p>"You think I would bring my bells on a vacation??" </p>
<p>"Sungie's family reunion's are less vacations and more convincing him to go to family therapy with his parents." </p>
<p>Something bangs on the walls. Frost starts to cover the middle, and spreads to the sides. "Well I don't have them, so we're gonna have to improvise" Donghyuck says. He bursts the walls down with his elemental and blocks a strike with one of his own. "Come at me you icicle!" he shouts, and blocks another strike. "LEE DONGHYUCK!!" Donghyuck and Chenle towards to whoever was calling him. "YOU CAN SUMMON IT!!" Taeil shouts, with his hands cupped. He was standing on the side in the trees, once again a last resort if anyone needs him (either that or the spirits and the agents are just scared of him...Actually that might be it). "HOW DO I SUMMON IT!?" he shouts back. Taeil shrugs, making Donghyuck groan. Chenle blocks off another strike from the ice spirit. Figuring strikes aren't going to work anymore, it summons the snow from the ground and turns them into tiny, but plenty, ice spikes aimed at the pair. "You know what, run now, bells later" Donghyuck says, and starts to run off with Chenle. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Jeno, Mark, and Jaemin are fighting off a bunch of agents. With his wolf hearing, Jeno is able to figure out who's coming up next behind him. He senses someone coming towards Jaemin and tells him to look out. The hybrid, having werewolf senses of his own, turns around before Jeno could say something and flips the agent over his shoulder down to the ground. "Thanks" Jaemin shouts, and fights against a gumiho agent. Jeno furrows his eyebrows, eyes with suspicion lingering on his best friend before kicking a agent down and throwing him against his comrade. "Alright, we need to find the others. Think of a plan. Do something OTHER then just mindless fighting" Mark says. He's grabbed by a agent, but is able to break free and punch him unconscious. "Yeah, that's a good idea" Jaemin replies back, kicking a agent down. </p>
<p>"Plant, I need a plant, I need a STRONGER plant" Renjun thinks as he's running. He uses his telekinesis to throw a agent at the Earth spirit who was chasing him and Jisung for a while. The spirit dodges, and makes three boulders rise from the floor. It throws them at the pair. Renjun and Jisung jump to the side. The human grips something from the ground. He looks down to see what it was. A brown stick, not too thick, but not too thin either. "Plant!" Renjun says out loud, and grows the stick into a larger size. When the Earth spirit throws another rock at him, Renjun uses the stick he further grew as a bat and hits it towards the spirit, barely missing it by the core. "See! Look how rude it is to throw rocks at people!" Renjun shouts when the Earth spirit gets scared of the rock. The spirit shakes its head, then goes back to focusing on attacking the human. It goes down to the ground and zips past Renjun, the shaking and lifting of small pieces of the Earth following the spirit. It affects Rejun causing the human to momentarily jump into the air, then fall straight down at the ground on his bottom. It hurts, but he doesn't take this moment to make sure he's ok. The spirit comes zooming back, the ground lifting the human again, making him fall on his arm this time. The spirit looks back. The way it tilts its head is mocking. It was as if it was saying, "what's wrong? Can't get up?" </p>
<p>"Oh just you wait you piece of dirt!" Renjun exclaims, and tries to get up, but gets lifted by the ground below him, then slammed back down when the rock carried him to the ground. The spirit was about to try again, when it suddenly becomes frozen in ice. Renjun looks up and gasps at how Jisung managed to jump from the ground. The frozen Earth spirit drops to the ground, frozen in its icy cage. Jisung, lands on the ground, and looks at his hyung on the floor. There it was, the icy white pupils again. It disappears when Jisung runs up to help Renjun up from the floor. "Are you ok hyung? Did you break anything?" he asks, as if he didn't look like some sort of ice demon. "Y-yeah, I'm fin-" </p>
<p>Suddenly the ground starts to shake. Something chitters from the other side. Renjun and Jisung looks, the human squinting at the black line slowly starting to rise near the trees leading up to the top of the mountain. His mouth drops when the black line, turns out to be a wall of poisonous gas spirits rising from the ground. On the top rides a woman and a man. The woman was in the usual DokZuZhi Hanbok, her hair in a braid, resting on her shoulder. The man, pale as the snow on the ground, also adorned Hanbok, and was wearing the gat hat scholars had worn back in the Joseon Dynasty. </p>
<p>It's the twins. </p>
<p>"Daebing Mountain! Surrender, and the fight will be over" Jo Ahrim says. Her hands were behind her back, and her eyes were souless. "Indeed. No surrender will equal to your demise. Make life easier for your petty little lives" Jo Daeshim adds after, his hands also behind his back. The ground shakes again before the twins could even get a response. From behind the house, everyone looks rise of grim reapers, floating up to the sky. "What's that in their hands?" Renjun asks Jisung. The grim reapers, were all holding bowls of some kind. Upon closer inspection, the human could see Hanja characters scribbled into the wooden bowls. Mrs. Park, in the middle of the grim reaper flood, also had her hands resting behind her back. She gives a kind smile to the twins and says, "Jo Ahrim! Jo Daeshim! How long has it been since I have last seen you in the underworld? 10 years?" The twins share a glance, and say nothing. "I must say, I am impressed. You both were able to grow a large mass of servants, both spirit and physical beings!" Mrs. Park's smile drops, her expression turning much more scary. "But of course, as a grim reaper and the resident of this mountain, I forbid you, uninvited non grim reapers, from entering this property! Leave once! Or may the great Haneullim cast shame upon you!" </p>
<p>Jo Daeshim tsks, his smirk replicating his older sister's and father's creepy grin. "Hey, ahjuma! Instead of trying to scare us with superstitions, let's just fight yeah?" His twin snorts, and replicates his smirk. "That's right! After all, I see you brought your own army. Let them fight each other as they please!" she shouts. Renjun and Jisung share a glance, then look back at the bowls. Surely, the army they are talking about are the grim reapers right? </p>
<p>Right?</p>
<p>"Are your army ready for battle?" Jo Daeshim asks. "Oh yes, more ready then they have ever been. They are prepared, and they are trained" Mrs. Park replies. Jisung widens his eyes. "Oh no" he mutters, backing up. "What?" Renjun asks. Jisung's pupils flash white. "It's them, they brought them, they definitely brought them" he says back. He backs up against Jeno's hand. Renjun turns around and sees the rest of the group right next to them. "Then we gotta do everything we can to save them from getting hurt" Mark says. "Um, then we gotta do that fast!" Donghyuck says, pointing. His finger was pointing towards Mrs. Park's rising hand, a signal that will release the spirits from their bowls. Renjun's eyes widen, but not from that. From Jisung's gigantic leap onto the roof of the mansion.  </p>
<p>As soon as his feet touches the tiled roof, Jisung jumps again, and releases a strike more powerful than Renjun has ever seen him make. Jo Daeshim watches as the strike hits his twin in the chest, pushing her into the forest. "Why do you keep hitting my sisters with your ice powers you fae!?" he asks, pointing a finger at Jisung. "I didn't mean to do it on purpose!" he shouts back and strikes Jo Daeshim. He dodges the strike and sends a gas ball of his own at him. Jisung blocks it, by creating a shield of ice in front of him. The gas ball rebounds against the sheet, and pushes Jo Daeshim off of the wall of poisonous gas spirits. With the twins momentarily down, Jisung turns around and faces his mom. "Jisung! What are you doing?!" Mrs. Park exclaims. "Mom, please do not release the spirits" Jisung pleads in a lower tone. "I'll tell you another plan that you can use, just please let these spirits go-" </p>
<p>During Jisung's attempt in persuading his mother, Jo Ahrim had gotten back up on the wall of poisonous gas spirits, and threw a gas ball at the fae. "JISUNG WATCH OUT!" Jaemin calls out from the bottom. Jisung closes his mouth and turns around. When he sees the gas ball coming at him, he jumps to the side. Mrs. Park moves to side, as well as the grim reaper behind her. The bowl in his hands however, tips causing the spirit in it to fall out. "ATTACK!" Jo Daeshim shouts when he gets up. The wall under the twins starts to rush over to the house, changing the wall into a sea. Mrs. Park ignores her son, and signals her grim reapers to release the spirits. "No! Stop! You can't do this!" Jisung shouts. But it was too late, the poisonous spirits had already started to fight the other spirits. Some of the ones released by Mrs. Park was doing well in fighting, but some of them were disappearing into orbs, failing completely.</p>
<p>"Grab the spirits and free them as fast as you can!" Doyoung says to group on the ground. He runs and slashes a poisonous gas spirit with a knife and disappears with a lightning spirit in his arms, teleporting to another place where the spirit can be free. On the roof, Jisung runs down and jumps into the bed of snow to retrieve the fallen spirit. His eyes scan the area before catching a blinking light of light purple on the ground. "There you are" he says to himself and runs over to the fallen wind spirit. Before he could get to it though, a poisonous spirit appears in front of him and tries to slash the fae with a long string of gas. Jisung avoids it, blocking it with sheets of ice. He manipulates the snow below them and throws it on top of the gas spirit, giving him enough time to run over to the wind one and to check if it is ok. "Don't worry, it's just me" he says, cupping the wind spirit in his hand. The fallen spirit responds with a pat of its tail on Jisung's palm. Luckily its core is ok, but it was clearly in the middle of healing in the rehabilitation center. Jisung gets up to quickly run over to the arena, but is blocked by the gas spirit, who had risen from the snow. It melts the leftover snow it had on top of its head, and clenches its whole body, extruding gas out from its sides. Frightened, Jisung blows a wolf whistle. Out comes Hyo, knocking the spirit in the head with his claws and throwing it to the side. Jisung quickly creates the same ice net he made for Yewon, and places the wind spirit into it. "Sorry, it's cold" he says. The spirit didn't seem to mind, and thanks the fae with a wave of its tail. "You know where to take him" Jisung says to Hyo and hands the bird the net. Hyo nods his head, flies back to where he came from. The gas spirit that had been thrown, gets up immediately and goes to follow the bird. Jisung catches the spirit before it could get any further with a ice rope and reels the spirit in. He takes a deep breath and freezes the spirit with all of his might, until it is completely encased thick, shining ice. </p>
<p>At the other side of the house, the group was also focusing on saving the spirits, and setting them free. Some of them, like the wind spirit, was not able to fly by themselves, so Mark, Jaemin, and Taeyong in his spirit form, takes the initiative to carry them to safety. </p>
<p>"Ok, ok" Donghyuck mutters to himself. He guides a stream of water against two agents, and knocks out the one coming behind him. "Summoning a tool, how do you summon it? Do you just call for it like a magical anime girl or something?" He stops his thoughts when he catches a poisonous gas spirit attacking a plant spirit. Donghyuck lets two agents bump into each other when they tried to fight him, and runs over to the two spirits. "Summon, summon" he keeps thinking. He stops. Donghyuck opens his hand and looks at it. He closes his eyes. "Ok, shaman bells come to me. Come to me, right here, in my hand." Nothing happens. "Funny, but I really need you right now. So please, come here." Again nothing happens. The merman opens a eye. The plant spirit was still alive, but it was having a lot of trouble defending. Donghyuck closes his eye again and takes a deep breath. "I need you. I'm not weak. I want to be stronger. So please come here, so that I can grow in strength." A few seconds pass by, before Donghyuck hears the familiar jingle on his hand. He opens his hand smiles. The shaman bells sit in his hand, shining under the sun. "Hello" he says out loud and ties the handle to his belt loop. He guides the bells off of the handle and entraps the poisonous gas spirit in a water cage sphere. "Go! Fly away from here!" he tells the plant spirit. The green ghost nods its head and zooms off to the trees. After the plant spirit flies off, Donghyuck throws the spirit against an agent. The water cage breaks open, freeing the poisonous gas spirit and allowing it to attack using gas balls and strikes. Donghyuck blocks them all using his bells. He directs them into a line and sends them to swirl around the spirit, irritating it with their sound. It bursts the bells off of its body, but they come back and entrap the spirit into a water orb. "Think twice next them when you think you can just kill a weakened spirit" Donghyuck says. His eyes turning dark blue, Donghyuck sends the water orb with a great amount of force. A tail of water follows the orb, taking other poisonous spirits with it, and lets them crash into the spirit in the orb, causing them all to burst into smoke. </p>
<p>In the forest, Jaemin flies off in his bat form as quickly as he can to bring a water spirit to safety. He dips down to the ground and turns into his human form to hand off the spirit to Dejun. "Hi" the revived spirit says to his brethren in his hand. "We'll help you don't worry." He sets the water spirit into a bucket of water into the back of Johnny's truck and taps the back. "Drop them off at Yukehi's car now" Dejun says. Jaemin responds with a thumbs up and gets ready to take off again. "Wait! Are you ok? You look very tired" Dejun stops him. "I'm fine. Thank you for helping us" Jaemin says, and turns into his bat form, then flies off. </p>
<p>He wasn't ok. His vampire half was running out of energy. In the middle of his flight, Jaemin forcefully changes back into a human and falls onto the snow of the path leading up to Jisung's house. "Thank goodness we're in Sul Mountains" he mutters to himself and gets up. He can't turn into a bat again, but he needs to get the spirits to safety somehow. The hybrid looks around, and when he is sure no one is around, he turns into his wolf form and runs back to the house. </p>
<p>Something had stopped him when he was about to get to the house. Jaemin didn't have time to see who it was when a gas ball almost hits him in the side. Though, by that hint, he already knows who the person was. </p>
<p>Or rather, who the PEOPLE were.</p>
<p>He turns back into his human form and uses his agility to avoid another gas ball. "Out of energy are we?" Ahrim mocks and throws another gas ball at the hybrid. Jaemin scans his surroundings. "Where's the other one?" he asks. "Oh, don't worry, he'll be soon" Ahrim replies back. Jaemin furrows his eyebrows before feeling something hot behind his back. He turns around and ducks, Daeshim accidentally throwing the gas ball at his sister. Ahrim however catches it and throws it back at Jaemin. The hybrid moves to the side, letting it hit the tree behind him. "Oh how Renjun would be pissed if he knew I let it hit the tree" he thinks to himself, watching the acid from the gas ball burn a hole into the bark. "Come play with us Na Jaemin! You always had fun with us didn't you?" Daeshim teases. "Of course you would call taking my toys fun" Jaemin snaps back. He turns into his wolf form to headbutt into Daeshim. The older crashes into the tree behind him from the collision. Ahrim creates a gas whip and tries to hit the hybrid, but only manages to get his tail. "To be fair, it was fun seeing you upset" Ahrim says, as she's attacking. Jaemin turns back into his human form and tuts. "Of course you would think that" he replies back, and throws snow at Ahrim. </p>
<p>Daeshim runs in front of his sister and melts the snow with his hand. It was glowing in dark purple smoke, anything he touched will disintegrate. "And do you remember the times we would do that to you, together?" Daeshim asks with a sly smile. He and Ahrim links hands before Jaemin could respond. Their eyes turn dark purple, and the hands that were not linked together also turns dark purple. </p>
<p>"Let's play, Nana." </p>
<p>Jisung leaps onto the other side of the house and gapes at the fight in front of him. He winces at all of the different colored spirit orbs lifting in to the sky. "Geez" he mutters, and blocks the punch of a agent. He shoots ice at him while the agent, who apparently is a vampire, avoids them using his agility and speed. The vampire agent speeds around Jisung, causing the fae to get confused. Jisung turns his head and panics when a fist was a cementer away from his face. He falls to the ground and grabs the wrist of the vampire agent to stop the fist from hitting his face. The strength of the agent however, is much stronger then Jisung's. It causes the fae to waver, and slowly lose control of the fist. "Awe, look at the baby fae" the agent mockingly coos in a annoying baby voice. Jisung looks to the sides of him, looking for anyone who needs help or anyone that can help him. When he looks to his right, he spots a water spirit fighting a fire spirit and a poisonous gas spirit. While the water spirit is one of the stronger ones from the rehabilitation center, it was having trouble fighting the two spirits alone. In a moment of strength, Jisung lets one hand off of the wrist and uses it to manipulate the snow off of the ground and against the head of the agent. It pushes the agent off of him and onto the ground. Jisung gets up and quickly runs over to help the water spirit. The fire spirit notices the fae coming and throws a fire ball at Jisung, who blocks it with a sheet of ice. "At least there's one spirit fighting the water spirit now!" he thinks to himself. Granted it happened to be the poisonous gas spirit that had to fight the water spirit, but hey, if you had two swords coming at you, it's normal to want to have one blade thrusting towards your neck then two. </p>
<p>Instead of ice blasts, Jisung uses strikes to counter attack the fire balls coming from the fire spirit. The ice comes out of his fists as he piratically punches the fire balls to the ground as the fire spirit backs him away from the water and poisonous spirits. It was coming to the point where the fire spirit was getting tired of just using fire balls. Thus, it creates a ring of fire around the fae and fires mini flames at him like a machine gun. Jisung yelps, and draws out a ice wall from the snow on the ground to block him from the flames. He uses his strength to push the flames back into the fire spirit, but alas, the fire spirit instead pushes him back. Jisung looks back and panics when he sees he is dangerously close to the ends of the fire ring. He tries to push more, but it's no use. He can feel the beads of sweat forming on his head as he uses more of his powers. Feeling the heat at the back heels of his shoes, Jisung attempts to take a hand off of the ice wall to get rid of the back half of the fire ring. But when he takes off one hand from the ice wall, it collapses. "Oh no" he says, and looks up. Thousands of flames comes towards him. Jisung puts his arms in front of his face to prepare for impact. Though, instead of getting burned, the fae instead gets dunked water, and falls onto the ground. He looks up to see the water spirit from earlier swimming up above him. It gives him a playful wave with its tail before flying off to find its friends. Jisung smiles, but when he turns to see the almost dead fire spirit in front of him, it changes into a scared frown. </p>
<p>The color of the fire spirit looks similar to when Taeyong had been shot by the spirit bullet from Jo Hyungil. It's core was blinking slowly, almost like heart beat about to give out. He doesn't know what to do. It's a dying spirit, so he's supposed to help it right? That's what he does, right? But it's a DokZuZhi spirit, so is this a exception to let it die? To just let it turn into orbs and fly into the sky? </p>
<p>He sighs. No, that's not right. Doyoung had always told the boys that the job of a reviver was to give spirits a second chance at life. It would be wrong for him to just leave this fire spirit to die. With a heavy heart, Jisung whistles. Hyo comes flying towards him from the mansion, and lands onto the snow next to him. When he sees what the spirit was, the bird looks at Jisung with narrowed eyes. "Yes I know this could be bad, but it's still a elemental spirit. It didn't deserve to die so soon, and it deserves to live another day" Jisung tells the bird. He leans in closer to the fire spirit, jolting a bit when he sees the water from his hair dripping onto the spirit. "Um, this might be a little...cold, but hang in there!" he says. Jisung makes a ice net and hands it to Hyo. He turns his head towards the bird when he doesn't take it. "Hyo come on, we gotta do this." The bird closes its eyes, and makes an action similar to sighing. Hyo takes the ice net and lets Jisung drop the fire spirit into it. "Make sure to grab a heat bowl, I'll come up there as soon as I'm done with this" Jisung says, and runs off before Hyo could respond. The bird eyes the fire spirit in the net in his mouth before taking off to the mansion to set it down. </p>
<p>While looking around for anyone that needs help, Jisung spots a burst of dark purple and black smoke appearing then disappearing in the path leading up to the house. Squinting, the fae notices a smaller then average brown wolf fighting against the Jo twins. Jisung looks around. Everyone else was occupied with their own fights. He needed someone to come with him to save the wolf, there's no way JIsung's going there alone. Then, from the corner of his eye, he catches Renjun fighting off a agent. "Hyung!" Jisung calls out, and runs over to the human. </p>
<p>Renjun puts up his shield and sees Jisung running towards him. "Hyung! Hyung I need your he-" Before Jisung could finish his sentence, the werewolf spirit had popped Renjun's shield and tried to scratch him with her claws. The human uses the stick he picked up earlier, and uses it like a sword to fight off the agent's hands (he should take fencing classes in the future). Eventually, the wolf agent knocks Renjun's stick out from his hand, and in a moment of vulnerability, the agent turns into her wolf form and jumps to catch Renjun under her claws. Jisung reels his hand back, and pushes the snow from the ground up and against the wolf, smacking her to the ground like a tennis player hitting a tennis ball. "Hyung!" Jisung says after he had pretty much slapped the werewolf agent to the ground with snow. "There's a wolf over there fighting the twins alone, you gotta come with me to help it!" Jisung says.</p>
<p>Werewolf? Renjun turns his head to where Jisung was pointing at. Jaemin was in his wolf form, and indeed, was fighting the twins alone. He looked like he was going to pass out from energy at any moment. He turns back to Jisung and nods. "Let's gather the others on the way" he says, and starts running with the fae. They grab the other members of their friend group on the way, away from their individual fights.</p>
<p>"Woah" Mark says as they're running. "Look how they're fighting." The vampire had said this referring to the twins. Upon closer inspection, he did have the right to say that. The twins were fighting symmetrically, like a mirroring copying the actions of another being. Jaemin was having a hard time combating both, as their attacks were happening in the same time, with the same amount of power, and at the same amount of speed. </p>
<p>The twins uses a smoke kick. The smoke, being more solid then a regular gas ball, had pushed Jaemin so hard he was able to break through a tree and hit the other one behind it. "Ouch, that's gotta hurt" Jo Ahrim says with a proud grin. "Oh yeah? Well not as much as this!" Chenle exclaims, and brings the ground under the twins and throws them against their own set of trees. Renjun and Jeno runs over to the wolf in the meantime to check if he's ok. "Wait a minute" Jeno says when the approach the hybrid. "Isn't this the wolf that saved you from the mall?" Renjun nods, and checks for any fractures or other injuries. The wolf whines when Renjun presses onto the spot where he was hit, and paws him to stop. "Sorry" he says, and turns to Jeno. "He's healing, but he's gonna need a break" Jeno nods. "I'll take him to Taeil hyung." The wolf stands up and picks up Jaemin and runs over to the parking lot where Taeil and the spirit picks up are. Renjun stands back up and watches as Jeno runs, the light brown tail sticking out from his arms. "Please rest Jaem, we got this" he thinks. "Please don't get more hurt." </p>
<p>A sudden crash causes Renjun to turn back to the fight behind him. The twins had pushed Mark and Chenle onto the ground and were combating against Donghyuck and Jisung. The merman was using his bells. He directs them to create swift strikes that were fast enough to cut the gas balls in half. However the gas balls, were coming at a fast rate too, so when Donghyuck isn't able to cut one, Jisung comes in and freezes it with a ice blast. Renjun watches them alternate, finding a chance in separating the twins so that the fight is more easy to fight. He feels a tap on his shoulder, and turns around. "Oh hi" he says to the sudden vine that had lowered itself down from the tree behind him. It points to the ground and shows Renjun the green orbs floating above the snowy grass. A stick appears from the very patch. The green orbs disperse as Renjun picks it up from the ground. He looks up and thanks the vine. "I'll make sure to visit the Great Tree when I have the chance" he says, and turns back to the fight. He isn't too surprise that this happened. Daebing Mountain has grim reapers, so the nature here should be very spiritual, enough for the Great Tree to send Renjun a little gift he can use. </p>
<p>Looking for a target, Renjun waits for the perfect moment to launch the stick at the twins. There was a moment where Donghyuck and Jisung had momentarily made them step back, one each of their legs stepping back. Renjun takes this chance to launch the stick at Jo Daeshim. It wraps around his ankle, letting Renjun pull and letting him fall back. Now, there was one twin on the ground, and one still standing up. "We're not doneso yet ma'am!" Donghyuck exclaims, and sends off a line of bells at her. Jo Ahrim uses a gas ball to break the line, and jumps further back. "I believe I'm not much older then you, no need to call me ma'am" she says nonchalantly. </p>
<p>Jisung runs over to help Mark and Chenle up while Renjun takes his place in fighting with Donghyuck. "Where's Jo Daeshim?" Mark asks. Jisung turns around, and starts to panic when he doesn't see a man laying face down on the snow. "Chenle, go help the others" Mark tells the leprechaun, and gestures towards Jisung to come with him to find Jo Daeshim. Jisung and Chenle nod, the latter running off to where Renjun and Donghyuck are. </p>
<p>Mark and Jisung then turn to start their objective. Though, they already completed it when Mark catches the fist of Jo Daeshim, who was waiting right behind him. "Looking for me bloodsucker?" Jo Daeshim asks, and takes Mark's wrist to throw him to the side. Jisung starts to shoot his ice blasts at the poisonous gas elemental, the latter running around in scraggles to avoid getting frozen. Jo Daeshim then takes the offensive, and sends a series of smoke bombs at Jisung. The fae widens his eyes and runs away from them. They all set off as soon as they touch the ground, creating a purple colored fog on the path. "Park Jisung isn't it? Aren't you the son of that wretched Park Sami? You seem much weaker then I imagined the son of the assemblyman of Sul Mountains and the Chief of the Grim Reaper's Station to be" Jo Daeshim's voice rings into the purple cloud. The fog was thick, Jisung couldn't see. He shoots some ice blasts here and there, hoping that'll clear it up. It kinda works. "Or rather, you're nervous. But why? What's there to be nervous about?" Jo Daeshim asks. Jisung throws a ice strike. He doesn't want to focus on answering the voice and just wants to get out of the fog. Jo Daeshim tsks. "Fine, don't answer me, but my sister and I will find out soon. Just give us a hour or two, and we'll know." </p>
<p>Well ain't that peachy.</p>
<p>The voice suddenly stops and leaves Jisung to his fog hacking. It worries him a bit. "Should I try call Hyo?" Jisung thinks. No, he needs the bird to take care of the three spirits sitting in his bedroom right now, and he can't risk for Hyo to come into the middle of this fight. The fae throws a weak ice blast and sighs. Why is he nervous though? Is it because he pretty much just wrecked his mother's plan? That he's in the middle of this weird fog? His heart has been beating at a fast rate throughout this whole fight, it doesn't feel right. </p>
<p>Sooner or later, Jisung just decides to run out of the fog. So he does, and ends up at the end of the forest's path. He looks back to look at the fog, but it was gone. The fight with Jo Ahrim wasn't even there, nothing was there. </p>
<p>"JISUNG LOOK OUT!" </p>
<p>The fae turns around, and yelps when he sees a giant gas ball heading towards him. He ducks and watches it fall onto the forest floor and melts anything that it just hit. He gulps. Maybe he's nervous because there's a chance he could die (well Jisung shouldn't be worried about that, he's half grim reaper for goodness sake). Jisung turns back again, and joins his friends in fighting the twins. He freezes a incoming gas ball thrown at him, and creates a ramp for Mark to run on and jump off of from. The vampire uses it well, and tackles Jo Daeshim to the ground. "Ow! Get off me, you're heavy!" Jo Daeshim yells. He pushes Mark off with a gas stream and gets up.</p>
<p>His sister, fights Chenle and Renjun. "What kind of leprechaun has a earth elemental? That's stupid" Jo Ahrim comments. She throws a gas ball at Chenle, and the latter shrinks. When he grows back he makes the ground under Jo Ahrim grow, launching her into the air. "It's not actually!" Chenle shouts to the sky. A gas ball is thrown at him as a answer. "Well you don't have to get pissy at me for being right!" Renjun rolls his eyes, and uses his stick to grab Jo Ahrim's ankle. He brings her down back to the ground and smash the stick onto the ground. It grows into a mini tree, and wraps around Jo Ahrim's torso. "Hm, good, but not good enough" Jo Ahrim says, and melts the branch apart. </p>
<p>In the middle of the fight, Jaemin and Jeno comes and joins them. Jeno turns into his wolf self and runs to tackle Jo Ahrim while Jaemin uses his super speed to do the same to Jo Daeshim. "Ah! It's time that you joined us and your friends!" Jo Daeshim says, and pushes Jaemin back. He uses a gas whip to attack, making the boys either jump like they're playing jump rope, or move back. </p>
<p>At some point, Jo Ahrim had eyed Jaemin from her side of the fight. Renjun catches her grin, and widens his eyes when she starts to charge up a large gas ball. He sends a signal towards Donghyuck, who takes it and uses his bells to cut the ball in half. Jo Ahrim, doesn't reach and instead uses the two halves of the ball to make a flat circle. She throws the discs, and makes them pop, sending Renjun, Donghyuck, Chenle, and Jeno to the ground. "If any of you learn how to make a disc like that, that would be mighty helpful, just saying" Jeno says with a groan. </p>
<p>With her opponents down, Jo Ahrim uses her time to create a large smoke bomb from her hand. Renjun looks to where she was going to throw it at, and tries to get up. He falls down from the loss of energy from his body waist down. "JAEMIN! WATCH OUT!" he shouts instead. Both Jaemin and Jisung look towards the human to see a giant smoke bomb flying towards the hybrid. Jaemin ducks, and kicks Jo Daeshim from the floor at his legs.</p>
<p>Jaemin avoided the bomb, but it was heading towards a group of spirits that were huddled together and hiding by the wall. "Oh no!" Jisung exclaims out loud. He musters as much strength as he can in a few seconds, feeling his elemental course through his veins, and into his hand. Renjun watches from a far as Jisung creates a colossal ball of bright white ice from his hand. The fae throws it at the smoke bomb heading towards the spirits, then directs it with his hand to hit it away from them to the side, the ice ball sends the smoke bomb flying, and form a tremendous explosion. Compared to the explosions Jisung's ice bombs make, this one makes it seem like a baby. It blew back the stone wall barrier through the trees of the forest behind it, and blew everyone back towards the other side. The fluffy snow on the ground becomes frozen hard ice, and the front of the house turns from a dark wooden brown, to a blue, white icy color. Parts of the house start falling off like someone breaking off a frozen fruit, and break into dust once they hit the ground. As for the smoke bomb, it explodes in the forest, and melts every tree around it, making it naked. </p>
<p>What has Jisung done?</p>
<p>There was a moment of silence from everyone, both for and against the DokZuZhi. Then, a flood of poisonous spirits sprout up from the ground, forming another wall. All of the agents start to run out from where they came from, the non poisonous gas spirits following them. Jo Ahrim and Jo Daeshim rise from the ground and shares a glance with Mrs. Park, who stood on the roof of the fragile house. Then, they look at Jisung, the fae looking more terrified then he was before, his hand brought up to his chest, palms open with bits of frost forming on his finger tips. </p>
<p>"Don't forget, that you are your worst enemy" Jo Daeshim says, before disappearing with his sister, to who knows where. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Why does Renjun feel like he's waiting outside the principal's office. </p>
<p>Mrs. Park had called for the boys and her son to come to the meeting room they were just in after the fight. Thankfully the mansion didn't fall apart (more), but the forest was completely destroyed. Jisung is inside talking with his mother and Taeil, while the rest of the group are forced to wait outside. </p>
<p>"Renjun do you have a extra hot pack? It's freezing" Donghyuck says. He had his arms crossed, and was sitting on a bench. He shivers, then thanks the human for the two hot packs he had graciously received and stuffs them into his coat. Renjun sits down next to him, and practically glues his side to Donghyuck's. "You took my two hot packs, and now we must share" Renjun says. Donghyuck shrugs, and leans into the human's side. "That's fair." </p>
<p>"Jaemin where were you? You weren't at the parking lot" Mark asks the hybrid. Suddenly all eyes were on Jaemin. The hybrid was standing with his arms crossed, his expression blank. Renjun can tell that he's worried for Jisung. They all are. "Huh?" Jaemin says after a second. "Where were you during the fight?" Mark repeats. It takes a second for Jaemin to process the question. "Oh, I was helping Taeil with the wolf in the car" Jaemin says. Jeno's head whips up. "You were?" he asks. Jaemin nods. "I passed on a fire spirit to Yukhei hyung, then went to help Taeil hyung." It didn't seem like Jeno took this answer as the true story. Of course Renjun knew what actually happened, but he kept silent and watched from the comfort of his Donghyuck heater. Jeno stands up from where he was sitting on the floor and crosses his arms. "You're saying, that the wolf that I brought to Taeil hyung, was also being taken care of by you." </p>
<p>"Yes, that is correct."</p>
<p>"But I never saw you." </p>
<p>"Cause I had just came back with a spirit." </p>
<p>There was a yellow tinge to Jeno's eyes. He was getting frustrated. "You had just left before I came" Jaemin says calmly. Before things could get worse, Chenle cuts in between them. "Hyungs can we please focus on waiting for Jisung, I'm scared. Whenever he goes to talk with his mom, it doesn't take this long." Jeno relaxes his facial expression a bit at Chenle. "Sorry Le, I'm sure he's ok" he says, patting his back. "Yeah" Renjun adds on. "I'm sure they are having a long, but civilized conversation." </p>
<p>It was not a civilized conversation. </p>
<p>"HOW COULD YOU CUT IN BETWEEN ME AND THE TWINS DURING THE FIGHT!?!" </p>
<p>It was more of a exasperated dispute.</p>
<p>As per usual, Taeil only stood by on the side and watched the argument like a TV drama at the back of the room on a chair. Jisung doesn't like that. Why isn't he backing him up? It was his idea to stop the Grim Reapers from using the spirits in the first place! </p>
<p>"I had it together!" Mrs. Park says, her hand messaging her temples. "I had a great plan that was going to work, but not only did that not work, YOU HAD DESTROYED THE FOREST AND OUR HOME!" </p>
<p>"It's not my fault!" Jisung says meekly. He was tired, exhausted, any synonym Thesaurus.com can give you. The point is, is that he doesn't have the energy to fight with his mother (he never has), and wants to be in his room with Hyo and Lemon while creating a eternal blizzard (well Lemon won't be able to survive in those condition, he should give her to Chenle before he starts). "It's not your fault? IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!?" Mrs. Park yells. She slams her hand onto the table, making Jisung jolt. "It was YOUR ice bomb that had frozen the house and redirected the smoke bomb into the FOREST!" Taeil notices Jisung's shoulders rising up a little. He raises a eyebrow.</p>
<p>Taeil is about to ask if Jisung was ok, when a knock grabs the Parks' attention first. "What is it!?" Mrs. Park yells. A head of one of the Park's servants pokes into the room. The servant gulps upon seeing Mrs. Park's enraged expression, and quickly walks over to her. He whispers something to Mrs. Park, cupping his mouth with his hand. When he is finished, he gives a short glare at Jisung before walking out of the room and shutting the door. </p>
<p>Neither Jisung nor Taeil knew what Mrs. Park had just learned, but it was enough for her to get even more angry and summon her sword. Taeil immeaditly gets up from his seat and pulls Jisung away from the woman. "Mrs. Park, calm down" he says, his hand up as if he is calming a wild animal. "YOU!" Mrs. Park says towards Jisung. She had her blade pointed directly at her son's chest. "YOU LET A DOKZUZHI SPIRIT INTO OUR HOUSE!?!" Taeil drops Jisung's arm and looks at Jisung. The fae on the other hand, ignores him. "That spirit was hurt! Badly hurt!" he argues back. "WELL YOU SHOULD'VE LET IT DIE! IT'S A DOKZUZHI SPIRIT!" </p>
<p>"It's a spirit nonetheles-"</p>
<p>"IT'S A DOKZUZHI SPIRIT NONETHELESS!"</p>
<p>Mrs. Park slashes through the meeting table with her sword, cutting it in half. Jisung clenches his fists. He can feel the ice forming around his feet. "Jisung, calm down, remember, your friends are outside" Taeil whispers to him. Jisung takes a deep breath, but the ice near his soles did not melt away. "I swore to help every spirit to a second chance at life, and-" </p>
<p>"How could my very own son let a DokZuZhi spirit into my house? Hah!" Mrs. Park says, her hand on her forehead. Jisung furrows his eyebrows. The air in the room gets colder. "Jisung" Taeil warns. The fae ignores him again and keeps talking. "Listen to me, that spirit can't hu-" Mrs. Park stabs her sword into one of the halves of the broken tables and leans her forehead onto the handle. "Oh how I should've raised you better! At the very least, you could've had common sense!" </p>
<p>Jisung clenches his fists again. "Mom-" </p>
<p>"What have I done wrong in my parenting? What could have I done better?" </p>
<p>Taeil sees frost forming on the walls. </p>
<p>"Mom, the spirit isn't dangerous! It's badly hu-" </p>
<p>"I should've just sent you to school in the Grim Reaper world, why would I ever send you to school in Neo City?" </p>
<p>Jisung's eyes flashes white. </p>
<p>"Mom" </p>
<p>"Is it too late for you too go to university in Sul Mountains??" </p>
<p>Ice crawls onto the floor from the wall, and around Jisung's feet.</p>
<p>"Mrs. Park?" Taeil says, looking around the room. </p>
<p>"Mom, look at me" </p>
<p>"Why!? Why would I? What reason could YOU possibly have to do, all of this!?" </p>
<p>The windows at the side of the room start to freeze. </p>
<p>"I am telling you, the reason was-" </p>
<p>"YOU HAVE NO EXCUSES FOR ANY OF THIS!? HOW ARE YOU MY SON!?" Mrs. Park takes out her sword from the table, not noticing that it was encased fully in ice. "YOU SHOULD'VE REALIZED WHAT YOU WERE DOING FROM THE START!!" she says pointing again, at Jisung. "YOUR FATHER AND I HAD WORKED HARD TO MAKE YOU COMPETENT ENOUGH TO WORK AS A GRIM REAPER! AS A ICE FAE! AND YET YOU, STILL CAN'T FUNCTION CORRECTLY!? HOW ARE YOU MY OFFSPRING, IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO SERVE YOUR PURPOSES!?" </p>
<p>"WELL IF YOU LISTENED, YOU WOULD'VE FOUND OUT A LONG TIME AGO!!" Jisung shouts. With the whip of his hand, the ice covered walls, windows, and broken table, blows apart. The whole room falls apart, as if Jisung had pulled the thread that was keeping it all together. His eyes were white, his body is numb. There were spikes of ice around him and his mother. The fae's chest, heaves up and down as he breathes heavily, and a tear falls from his eye. Jisung looks around his surroundings and slowly puts his raised arm down. He looks at horror at the destroyed room, the horrified people in the rooms next to it, and his friends, who were blown away from the explosion and were lucky to be caught by Taeil's water orbs. </p>
<p>Jisung runs back to his bedroom.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading! </p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <a href="https://linktr.ee/monchick">Linktree</a></p>
<p>  <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0er4pY7bsIweImO6SrN8zK">Neo City Playlist</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0045"><h2>45. 30. Starting a War</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Dreamies and their hyungs accidentally start a war while doing spirit revival work.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>SUP! </p>
<p>Y'all know where I can find the Korean dubbed version of Haikyuu? Really wanna watch a full episode, but all I'm finding are clips on YouTube and videos that won't load T^T</p>
<p>Also! Trigger warning around like the middle and beginning of the story! If you are very sensitive to manipulation in relationships and/or helicopter parenting, then please this chapter carefully! </p>
<p>The part in the beginning isn't too severe, but the other part deals with sacrificing for the manipulator so if you are uncomfortable with that, here is  the beginning of the first sentence, and the beginning of the last sentence of that specific part as a warning: </p>
<p>"'What? Explain before you make any jokes...'" - "When Hyo comes back..."</p>
<p>Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and remember, you are always loved. Think about the people who care about you, and remember that they love you no matter who you are :))</p>
<p>  <a href="https://linktr.ee/monchick">Linktree</a></p>
<p>  <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0er4pY7bsIweImO6SrN8zK">Neo City Playlist</a></p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>
    <i>TW!!: MENTIONS OF HELICOPTER PARENTING AND SIGNS OF MANIPULATION!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!</i>
  </b>
</p>
<p>The group was listening to the whole conversation, up to the point where the room exploded. </p>
<p>They were blown away from the explosion (literally). Thankfully, Taeil had caught them in a water orb to catch their fall, but it doesn't change what happened. </p>
<p>Chenle was the first to get up. Dusting off the..water off of him, he storms up to Mrs. Park, the angriest he's ever been. "Would it kill you to lose the title as the 'Worst Parent Ever'??" Chenle yells at her. Mrs. Park had her sword in her hand, frozen to the ground. Her eyes were widened, and her mouth was still hanging agape. Though, it didn't seem like she was listening to Chenle. Her eyes were facing away from the leprechaun. "And listen to people when they're speaking to you!" Chenle kicks some snow out of frustration, and storms off towards the mansion. His hyungs, all wet and cold, get up from the ground and follow his pursuit. "Check on Jisung for me!" Taeil calls out. He crosses his arms and sighs. "Why are Grim Reapers so demanding." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Jisung had expected some things to occur in his room when he was gone, but a wiggle class was not one of those things. </p>
<p>He had opened the door to his room, his face streamed with tears and eyes puffy from crying. His hands were covered with the same frost that had appeared earlier in the battle with the DokZuZhi, so when he touched the door knob, he could only feel numbness coursing through the veins in his fingertips. Upon opening the door, Yewon, and the wind spirit, were moving side to side, following the motions of Lemon who was swaying left to right, left to right. Hyo was also participating, his neck doing all of the wiggling for him. </p>
<p>The fae chuckles a bit, grabbing the attention of the beings from inside of the room. "Don't let me interrupt you guys" he says quietly with a small smile. He closes the door, and walks over to the bed. Jisung sighs when he sits on the bed, and watches Lemon continue her wiggle class. He eyes the water bottle next to the snapdragon's pot, then gets up to water her. "Don't mind me" he says, and gives Lemon her water. </p>
<p>After setting the water bottle down, Jisung hears a faint knock on his door. He looks at it and wonders who it could be. It couldn't be his mother with a apology, since when was that ever thing that happened. Ms. Choi was probably busy with something, so he assumes it's his friends. He opens his door, and behold 6 university students, dripping with water, standing outside of the room with the look of worry and concern on their faces. "You ok?" Jeno asks while Chenle is giving him a hug. Jisung only gives a sigh as his answer. "Let's talk" Renjun says. Jisung nods, and allows the group to go into the room. </p>
<p>Sitting down on the carpet (Jisung understandably didn't want the group to sit on his bed and ottoman chair when they're all drenched), Renjun passes some of his 50 hot packs to his friends so they do not get cold (because being cold is being cold, and that's not good). They greet Lemon and the spirits, and eye the suspicious bowl sitting in the space between the bed and wall under the sunlight. </p>
<p>"Welcome to Dream Therapy, where we listen to your life's problems like the good friends we are" Donghyuck says. He leans his head on his fist, his elbow resting on his knee while sitting cross legged. "So, what do you want to start with first?" Jisung shrugs. Honestly, where does he want to start? There are so many things to address, and it's not like he could just arrange them in a outline like he does for his essays. "What about..Your mom?" Renjun asks quietly. It takes a moment for Jisung to think, until he eventually nods. "Alright, mom" Jeno says. "So, was your mom always like that?" he asks after. "Like..Today." </p>
<p>Jisung nods again. "Since when?" Jaemin asks in his most gentle tone. "Since I was born" the fae replies quietly. His voice was quiet like a mouse. The group lets him take a moment to gather his thoughts. Hyo flies from the bed next to Jisung and rubs his head against the fae's side. Jisung smiles at the owl and pets its head before the bird flies to the desk next to Lemon, so that she doesn't feel alone. </p>
<p>"The job of a grim reaper requires a lot of talents and skills" Jisung begins. "Most become grim reapers after they die, but some are born as they are." Jisung pauses again and watches Yewon and the wind spirit play together next to his bed. Keeping his eyes on them, he continues. "They have to have all of those talents and skills, they gotta if they want to work with spirits and the spirit world." No one says anything, and just lets Jisung talk. They want him to talk, they want him to let it all out. </p>
<p>"My mom expects me to be like those grim reapers. The ones with all of the natural born talent, skills, strength, confidence, everything. On top of that, she also wants me to develop my ice elemental to the point where it's dangerous. The more dangerous I am, the more powerful I could become." Jisung sighs and rubs his arm. "So that point on for as long as I could remember, I had to take training for both of my grim reaper abilities and ice elemental. I had to work with trainers, coaches, teachers, and even some point a yoga instructor, for, some reason. But I could never make it. I could never meet my mother's expectations. Her image, her plan. It also didn't help, that my ice elemental was unusable because of my fear of it, and my grim reaper abilities just, never showed up." </p>
<p>A tear rolls down Jisung's pale cheek. Renjun had never really seen the younger cry before. He was always so strong in keeping his emotions together. It broke his heart to see him slowly crumble down from that one tidbit. More tears started to come out. Jisung puts his hands onto his eyes and tries to wipe all of them away. "I couldn't do anything she wanted to me to do, and I wasn't able to complete any of the challenges that she put me through because I was scared. I was scared of breaking something in my body, I was scared of breaking someone else's body, b-but I-I wanted to do it, I-I want-ted to k-keep going because I was more scared of disappointing my m-mom." </p>
<p>Chenle silently wraps his arms around Jisung as he's crying. He lets the fae bawl into his shoulder, not minding the wet spot forming on his jacket from the tears. Their hyungs join in the hug too. Renjun had brought Lemon down from the desk to allow her to hug the fae. Hyo came down and rests his little head on Jisung's side. The two spirits had stopped playing when Jisung started to cry, and was watching the huddle while floating in one space. Slowly, Yewon drifts towards the huddle and rests her head on JIsung's blond hair. She doesn't mind his head bobbing up and down, and stays there. "I'm scared hyungs! I'm scared Chenle!" Jisung exclaims from inside of the huddle. "I don't want to do it, but I kept doing it! I-I" </p>
<p>"Shhh, it's ok" Chenle says. He was resting his head on Jisung's shoulder, rubbing the back of the fae. The huddle falls apart when Jisung starts to get up again. Yewon flies off of his head, and floats back to where she was with the other wind spirit. "Jisung, you are your own person. You shouldn't be doing things that you want to do just because another person wants you to do it" Renjun says. Jisung sniffs, and answers quietly; "She's my mom though..I have to do what she says." </p>
<p>"Jisung you're being manipulated by her" Jeno says. "Even if she's your mom, she shouldn't be doing that." Jaemin nods and says after him, "As a parent, she should be letting you learn from your mistakes so you can grow. Your mom is right, she doesn't know how to raise kids, because she doesn't let them grow and instead pushes them back down with her crazy calculations." Mark adds on, "Don't let her get to the best of you. If you feel like you have done enough, then stop and take a breather. Don't work yourself to death." </p>
<p>Chenle puts both of his hands on Jisung's shoulders, making the fae turn towards him. "Park Jisung, you sir, are one of the strongest person I have ever known" he says. "As your certified best friend, mental twin, and soulmate, let me tell you that you are not failing at anything. You're instead, succeeding, you're achieving everything you wanted to do. You've made it to Neo University, you're able to control your ice elemental much more better then you have in the past. Heck, you're an officer of our school's dance team! And! You are a spirit revivier. Jisung think about that, you're working with spirits that grim reapers don't even bat an eye at." Chenle pulls Jisung into a hug. "Jisung please, please realize that you, are an amazing person. You don't need your mom's, dad's, or anyone's validation to feel like you've done something great. You did awesome things, and you can do more in the future at your own pace." Chenle let's go of the hug and slowly leans back. He gets startled at Jisung's tear filled eyes, and his small smile. The fae laughs and wipes some of the tears that ended up falling, then sniffs. "Thank you Chenle" he whispers. He turns to the rest of the group. "Thank you, you guys..You guys are my real family." </p>
<p>"Of course bud, we're always here for you" Jeno says, moving with the group to hold another group hug. </p>
<p>Though instead of breaking away, they stayed like that for a very long time. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"So..that's the spirit huh." </p>
<p>"Yup" </p>
<p>"It's so..pale." </p>
<p>"Well duh, it was dunked by a water spirit." </p>
<p>"It must be cold." </p>
<p>"Renjun, we're all cold." </p>
<p>"Well to be fair, it's Taeil hyung's fault that we're cold." </p>
<p>Later in the night around dinner time, the group had placed the heat bowl the DokZuZhi spirit was sitting in on Jisung's bed after making sure Jisung was feeling ok, and cleaning up. They placed it in the middle of their strange circle, their pets playing with Yewon and the wind spirit on the ground next to the bed. </p>
<p>Something bumps into the door, causing Renjun to drop his focus on the spirit, and turn his head. Geran shook her head as Robert was recovering from his bump. "Play nice guys" Mark says from his seat, keeping his eyes on the spirit. "Pangxie, don't pinch Hyo that isn't nice" Renjun says. Pangxie stops her arm mid air and turns one of her eyeballs towards the human. She slowly puts her claw down as Hyo watches her, narrowing his eyes as she lowers it. "Hyo doesn't like to peck crabs right" Renjun asks after turning back towards the heat bowl. "Uh, no not really, but there is a first time for everything" Jisung replies. </p>
<p>The group keeps watching the fire spirit. It wasn't really doing much. It just laid there, its little chest moving up and down to mimic breathing. Its core still had its light, but it's barely there. They began to question what they should do, when a knock on the door causes everyone to freeze, and look at the door. </p>
<p>"Alright, remember the protocol, if the person calls Jisung, 'Young Master Park', then we turn off the lights, and the pets and spirits move under the desk, while we hide under the bed. If it's a hyung, then let em in" Mark says. "Wait, how do we know if it's a hyung?" Chenle asks in a whispered, but somehow loud tone. Renjun shushes him for the very volume of the leprechaun's voice, and watches the door. No one moves until a certain voice speaks up from the other side. "Guys I know you're in there, I heard Chenle asking Mark what a hyung is" Doyoung says. </p>
<p>The whole room breathes a sigh of relief. Jeno slides off of the bed, and walks to open the door, minding the shells Pangxie laid on the floor. He opens it to Doyoung, Taeyong, Taeil, and Kun, holding plates of food and cups with drinks in them. "You can come in, but watch out for the shells. Pangxie tried to pinch Hyo for the 6th time when he laid a toenail on them." The four older men look towards the crab who had her eyes narrowed at them. She clamps her claws three times very slowly, before scurrying backwards under the desk. "Renjun why did you raise your crab to be so terrifying" Doyoung asks. "Because she's a good crab" Renjun answers. </p>
<p>Stepping over the shells like its a landmine, the men walk over to set some plates of food on Jisung's desk and ottoman, then take the others to the boys. "We knew you weren't going to come down for dinner, so we decided to bring it up here" Kun says, handing out the plates. The group thanks them. "We're also gonna eat here, cause the grim reapers are giving Doyoung and I a headache" Taeil says, taking a seat on Jisung's desk chair. "We can't go one moment in this mansion without a person running up to us and machine gun us questions about the health of a spirit, what a spirit does, what their psychology is like" Doyoung adds, messaging the bridge of his nose. "For people who claim to be really good grim reapers, they're not really selling the claim" Kun laughs. The rest of the room agrees with a collective hum. They're glad that their hyungs feel the same as them. </p>
<p>Taking a break to eat their food, the group hands over the heat bowl to Taeyong who was sitting next to the ottoman and start to dig in. Some of them leave the room to get food for their pets too. It was a bit crowded then Jisung would've liked, but he doesn't mind. He's glad to have be in a room filled with supportive people, pets, and spirits, especially after today's events. </p>
<p>"Are you feeling ok Jisung?" Taeyong asks. "We heard what happened from Taeil hyung." Jisung nods his head and gives the revived fire spirit a small smile. "I'm ok now, the hyungs and Chenle were able to help me feel better." Taeyong shares a smile back. "That's good, nice to have great friends huh?" He beckons Jisung to come closer, and cups a hand around his mouth as he whispers something to him. "Doyoung and Kun yelled at me today for grabbing a few pieces of candy from a store in Sul Mountains today, they're not the greatest friends on this Earth" he says in a playful tone. "Hyung, first off, you bought too much candy, second, I am your boyfriend" Doyoung says, having heard it clear as crystal. Taeyong leans back and pouts while the boys share a giggle. "But I don't have enough candy though." Kun shakes his head. 'Hyung, you have a pile in your room." Taeyong pouts even further and turns to the wizard. </p>
<p>"But that's a small pile!" </p>
<p>"Taeyong it's a gargantuan pile." </p>
<p>"Taeil hyung not you too!" </p>
<p>The conversation makes the boys laugh. Doyoung smiles and turns towards them. "Funny right? I'm sure you guys have these conversations too" he says. Jeno nods. "Of course! Donghyuck one time complained after we stopped him from buying another Michael Jackson CD." Donghyuck puts his fork down and crosses his arms. "Hey! I had a valid reason for buying that CD!" Renjun snorts. "You call 'appreciating the great deity, Michael Jackson himself' a valid reason?" he says. He laughs when Donghyuck playfully hits him. "Laugh all you want Huang, your purchases aren't the most logical either." Renjun raises an eyebrow. "Name one purchase that I've made that wasn't necessary." </p>
<p>"The 200 hot packs" Mark says in a cough. Renjun whips his head towards the vampire and narrows his eyes. "I get cold very easily, Mr. Pen Decorator." Mark looks up from his plate and mimics Taeyong's pout. "The pens I use need spice Renjun. I like buying those little toppers, they're cute." He takes a sip of his blood smoothie and places it on Jisung's dresser. "Besides, I think we should mention Chenle and Jisung, and their strange purchase of a mini, mini air conditioner." Doyoung snorts. "I'm sorry a what now?" he asks. "A Mini Mini Air Conditioner! Lemon needs it! She doesn't like stay in warm conditions!" Chenle defends. He and Jisung looks over at the flower on the floor, wiggling in her own space. "She just likes to stay cold like her father" Jisung says, with his chin up. "And besides, Jeno hyung made a stranger purchase" Kun tilts his head. "And what's that?" </p>
<p>"2 million straws and 400 wooden blocks, along with a dog toy" Jaemin answers, before taking a bite of his raw steak. "It was for a project!" Jeno says. Jaemin hums and nods. "So the dog toy was included in your replica of the Eiffel Tower for your World History course?" Jaemin asks with a smug grin. "N-no, I just wanted to play with it, it looked fun" Jeno says a bit quietly. The room gives a chuckle. "Well Jaemin made the weirdest purchase of all!" he says dramatically. He had one finger pointed at the hybrid with the room. "The gigantic, floppy, birds nest sun hat!!" Jeno reveals.</p>
<p>Jaemin doesn't react much, and just nonchalantly chews.  "Awe your reaction is not fun" Donghyuck says. The hybrid swallows before speaking. "Well I can't not admit it's a weird hat. I picked it out so I can wear it when you people are acting weird." Mark tilts his head. "What? What do you mean weird?" he asks. "You mean all of the time?" Taeil jokes, getting some laughs from the older people in the room. </p>
<p>They all continue to finish their table before it was time to confront the DokZuZhi spirit again. Taeil picks up the bowl and stares into it. "Ok, in order for us to heal this spirit, Taeyong is going to have to blow some fire into this bowl so it can heat up properly" he says. He sets the bowl on the desk. "Uh, I have a question" Donghyuck says with his hand up. "What is it?" Taeil asks. "What do we do if the spirit wants to make us into a Korean barbecue set for the DokZuZhi??" the merman asks. The dragon hums and nods his head. He puts both of his hands on his hips, then answers Donghyuck's question. "That's a very good question" he says. "I don't know." Jeno forms a eye smile. "Aha, we're going to die" he says. Renjun nudges the wolf in the side with his elbow, making him yelp. "Ow your elbow is pointy!" Jeno whispers. </p>
<p>"Hyungs, I'm really sorry" Jisung says. "I-I didn't realize the trouble we all have to go through in order to help this spirit." Doyoung gives the younger a small smile and lays his hand on his shoulder. "Jisung you did nothing wrong. You lived up to your job as a reviver. You made the correct choice" he says. Kun nods. "Besides, there is a way where we can help this spirit without becoming fried chicken." Jaemin tilts his head. "Fried chicken? Why would we become fried chicken?" he asks. Chenle tuts and shakes his head. "Gege, your jokes have to make sense in order to be funny! That's the rule!" Kun gives the leprechaun a glare. "I'm telling Ms. Wu that you're not behaving nicely" he says. Chenle widens his eyes and shakes his head. "No, no, I'm sorry! She's not going to give me egg tarts if you tell her that, I'll shut up now!" Renjun snickers next to the younger, causing him to turn and pout. "I'm telling her you're not being a good gege!" he exclaims. Renjun stops laughing and narrows his eyes at Chenle. "You snitch." </p>
<p>"Anyways" Taeil interrupts. "How do we do this without burning the house down." Kun nods, getting back on topic. "DokZuZhi spirits had been wired to serve the organization. All we have to do, is get it back to the state it was in before it joined the DokZuZhi." The wizard opens his mouth to say how they are going to rewire the spirit, but then he closes it and rubs his neck. "What? What's wrong?" Taeyong asks. Kun sighs. "Problem is, we're gonna need a..grim reaper to do it." </p>
<p>Drats.</p>
<p>"There are certain cases where if a grim reaper is unable to get a evil spirit back into the spirit world, they are able to turn back a evil spirit into a regular one using the power of that person's memories" Kun explains. Jisung furrows his eyebrows. "But..those grim reapers are..rare" he says. Kun turns his head towards Jisung and nods. "Yes, very, and even if there was a grim reaper like that in this house, we don't know that there are memories that a spirit can look to and appreciate enough to turn away from evil." Mark raises his pointer finger. "Do you think Yoonoh hyung might know what to do?" he asks. Taeil shakes his head. "Yoonoh is a Fighter Grim Reaper. He specifically works to kill really bad spirits, not take them to heaven nor change them back." Renjun makes a O with his mouth. That's actually pretty cool, yet it was also very scary at the same time. </p>
<p>"Perhaps, may I be of assistance?"  </p>
<p>Everyone turns around to the woman standing in the doorway of the room. Ms. Choi stood with her usual nonchalant expression with a hint of some concern, with her hands together on her stomach. "I'm sorry for suddenly barging into your room Jisung, I knew you wouldn't let anyone associated with your mom in here so I just sorta..walked in" Ms. Choi says. There was some guilt that took over the nonchalant expression, the most amount of emotions Renjun has seen on her face ever since he got here. "Don't worry guys, we can trust Ms. Choi" Jisung says. "She's helped me a lot during my childhood, and I consider her as my..true mom." They all look at Ms. Choi. The woman closes the door and locks it, then walks towards the fae. She gives him a big hug. "I'm very sorry for not coming to check if you were ok earlier. It was hard to break away from your mother when she is not stable" Ms. Choi says, cupping Jisung's face. The fae smiles and pats her hands. "It's alright, I'm glad that you came at all. My friends were able to help me feel better." Ms. Choi takes her hands off of Jisung's face and looks at the boys. She gives them all a bow, making them all startled into bowing back. "Thank you so much for being there for him. Jisung's mother, is not a good person if I were being completely honest. I always worry for Jisung whenever he's alone with Mrs. Park, and even more so when he is upset after each interaction with that woman. I sincerely thank you all, for helping him." </p>
<p>"It's no problem, we'll always be there for him when he needs it" Jaemin says with a smile. "Yes, we all will" Taeil says after. Ms. Choi turns towards the deity and gives him a bow, Taeil and the other older men in the room bowing back. "Thank you" Ms. Choi says. She straightens herself up and clears her throat. "Now, what seems to be the trouble?" she asks. "We need to help this DokZuZhi spirit without it going out of control" Renjun explains. Ms. Choi nods, and looks at the heat bowl in Taeyong's hands. "I see, well unfortunately, I am not a Healer Grim Reaper, I am a Guardian Grim Reaper, one that protects the spirits when needed" the woman explains. She looks towards the window. "We could always release the spirit outside of the window, but I suppose that you don't want to do that yes?" The boys nods. "They're going to catch the spirit immeaditly after we heal it" Jaemin answers. Ms. Choi nods again and looks towards Jisung. The fae gets confused by her sudden stare. "Deity Moon, are you able to find out what type of grim reaper Jisung is?" she asks. "Unfortunately I cannot, I specialize more in water elementals then in grim reapers and ice elementals" Taeil answers. Ms. Choi takes her eyes off of Jisung and turns towards the deity. "Well, I guess now is the only way to find out." </p>
<p>"Wait what's happening?" Chenle asks. Taeil and Ms. Choi share some sort of silent conversation, then nod when they had come to an agreement. "Jisung you're going to do the memory stuff" Taeil says. "WHAT?" Jisung exclaims. "I can't- but I-" Ice starts to form around Jisung's feet. "I wasn't trained for this! I thought I was supposed to be like a Guardian or some sort of Fighter!? That's what my mom said right?" he says. Chenle puts a hand on Jisung's shoulder to calm him down, his eyes glued on the ice slowly traveling to the bed leg. "Maybe your mom had the wrong idea" Doyoung says. "She seems to be wrong about everything, so it's possible that she's wrong about that." The boys snicker behind Jisung. It was true, Mrs. Park doesn't seem to be the most accurate person in Sul Mountains. Heck, maybe in the whole South Korean peninsula. "But, still! I don't know how, what I'm supposed to do, and-" </p>
<p>"Jisung" </p>
<p>Ms. Choi puts both of her hands on Jisung's shoulders. "Disregard everything your mother has ever said to you, that hurt your feelings and mentality. You are strong, and you know it" she says to him. Her tone was stern, yet soft. "You also don't have to do it if you don't want to, we've got a plan b" Taeil says from the side. Jisung looks at the dragon and his older hyungs, then at Ms. Choi, then, at his friends. They were all looking at him, with looks of determination and confidence. He turns back and sighs. "A part of me says that this is going to fail, and it's going to be all my fault" Jisung says with his head down. He looks up. "But the other part of me says that there's nothing to worry about, and that it'll heal the spirit." Ms. Choi. "Spoken like a true grim reaper." </p>
<p>The whole room scrambles into position. The pets are moved into Renjun's room. "Shotaro hyung and Sungchan said they'll watch them. I think they're kinda bored" Chenle says after getting off of the phone. Ms. Choi chuckles. "Well, I wouldn't blame them" she replies. Everyone, except for Taeyong, Taeil, and Ms. Choi, huddles together near the door. Renjun puts up his shield. Ms. Choi walks over to the window and puts her hand on the latch, ready to open it if needed. Jisung stands next to Renjun behind the shield. He can feel bits of frost forming on his hands. His heart was beating as fast as a car driving 60 miles per hour. Renjun gives Jisung a glance, then a smile. "Don't worry, everything is going to be fine. You can do this, and you're not alone" he whispers to him. The fae looks at his hyung and nods. That's right, he can do this. Even if he fails, he still has his hyungs and Ms. Choi with him. He won't have his mother yelling at him for failing. He won't question his self worth. </p>
<p>Because he can do this. </p>
<p>"Alright, grow a light flame platform, and I'll place the bowl on top" Taeil explains to Taeyong. "This will help heat the bowl enough for the spirit to get better quickly." He turns to Jisung. "As for you, focus your energy into your fingertips, then lightly touch the spirit at its core." Jisung widens his eyes. "But, won't I get burned if I touched its middle?" Taeil shakes his head. "You will only get burned if the spirit were to engulf itself in fire. If that were to happen, then we're going to lead it out the window." Jisung nods. Ok, if the spirit is not on fire, touch it. If it IS on fire, don't touch it. "You guys ready?" Taeil asks. Everyone nods their heads. They're scared yes, but they're ready. Taeil turns to Taeyong and nods. The revived spirit nods back and takes a deep breath. He gives a uplifting smile to Jisung before closing his eyes and pushing his hands out. Flames start to stream out of his hands, and grow out to a platform. Renjun's arms start to shake upon seeing the flames, but they stop when Jaemin puts a hand on his shoulder. "It's ok, I'm ok, I'm ok" the human chants in his head. </p>
<p>"Ok, stop" Taeil says. The platform stops growing. Carefully, Taeil begins to slowly place the bowl onto the fire platform. When he lets go, the wooden bowl starts to turn red. The hanja character in the middle glows a orange color, and the talisman stuck to the side of the bowl, vanishes into ashes. "Get ready" Kun whispers. Ms. Choi grips the latch of the window, Jisung clenches his fists. A burst of flames arise from the bowl like ones coming out of a grill when it burps. </p>
<p>Then, it rises.</p>
<p>A large fire spirit ascends from the bowl. Flames burst every now and then from its sides. The fire spirit begins to vibrate, the flames on its sides getting bigger. "It's gonna blow!" Mark yells. Ms. Choi immeaditly opens the window. Renjun prepares tor impact and tries to stand strong to keep the shield up. "I'm ok, I'm ok, I'm ok, I'm ok." </p>
<p>Taeyong looses focus from the spirit's size and drops the platform.The bowl falls onto the floor, no longer red or orange. Taeil grabs Taeyong's  hand and brings him to where Ms. Choi is. "It's ok, it won't hurt you, you're revived remember?" Taeil says. Taeyong nods, but he doesn't respond verbally, nor stop to look at the spirit. "Oh no" Doyoung whispers, his hands covering his mouth. </p>
<p>The fire spirit explodes. Flames bursts out of its body, and begin to fall like rain. Renjun momentarily drops the shield for Donghyuck to go out. The merman uses his bells to take out the flames before they land on anything. The fire spirit whips its head towards him as it hears the ringing of the bells around it. Donghyuck calls for the bells and attaches them to the handle. "Jisung!? I think it's your turn!" Donghyuck yells. The fire spirit throws a fire spirit at the merman, who blocks it with a water orb. Jisung slides out of the shield takes Donghyuck's place when the merman rushes back behind the shield. "Calm yourself Jisung! Lead it out the window if you have to!" Ms. Choi shouts. The fire spirit launches another fire ball. Jisung grows a ice wall from the ground and blocks it. "Come on Park, you can do this" he thinks to himself. Another fire ball is thrown. Jisung moves the ice wall to where the ball is flying to and successfully blocks it. He pushes the wall back into the floor, a line of ice marking where it is, and takes a deep breath. </p>
<p>"Hey, uh, do you remember me?" he asks, voice cracking a bit. The fire spirit throws another fire ball. Jisung takes it down with a small ice blast. "I know we were kind of fighting the last time you saw me, but just so you know-" The fire spirit throws two fire balls at Jisung. The fae blocks one with a ice wall, and another with a blast. "-just so you know, I brought you here to be healed." As he talks, Jisung slowly backs the fire spirit towards the window just in case. However, he's also focusing his energy into his fingertips, just like Taeil had instructed. The fire spirit bursts again. This time, Taeil catches the flames with his own water orbs. "This is a safe place. This is a place where you can become healed. You don't have to go through what the DokZuZhi had put you through" Jisung says. He can feel frost forming on his fingers again, but this time, it felt like the right kind of frost.</p>
<p>Another fire ball, another ice blast. </p>
<p>"Please know, I just wanted to help you." </p>
<p>A fire ball, a ice wall. </p>
<p>"You can trust me" </p>
<p>Jisung slowly raises his hand towards the fire spirit. The spirit responds with engulfing itself in fire, then throwing a large fire ball. Taeil catches it with a water orb and dissolves it. </p>
<p>"I know what it's like to be scared. In fact, everyone in this room does." The fire spirit is no longer on fire, so Jisung tries again. Renjun and the others anxiously watches as Jisung slowly raises his hand towards the spirit. "You don't have to be afraid. We don't want to fight, we don't want to hurt you. We want you to be healed from your wounds. You don't have to follow anyone else's orders now." The fire spirit seemed to be calmed down for a moment, but it goes back to throwing another fire ball. "Drop the shield for a moment Huang" Donghyuck whispers. Renjun does. Donghyuck and Chenle goes through. The leprechaun raises a wall between Jisung and the spirit for a moment and blocks the fire ball. Jisung doesn't mind the wall, and keeps walking when it goes back down. "You have your own life, and you don't have to sacrifice it for someone else. You can be your own person again." Jisung's fingers have reached to the height to which the spirit is floating at. "Don't be afraid, trust us. Trust me." The fire spirit stops throwing fire balls, but it doesn't stop backing up. "Remember you are" Jisung says. "Remember, your purpose, the purpose that you want to be defined by." The fae could feel the heat coming off of the spirit's middle. Renjun unconsciously holds his breath as he watches Jisung's frosted fingers slowly reach the fire spirit's core. The fae can feel all of his energy being centered at his fingers. He takes a deep breath.</p>
<p>"Take back your life" Jisung says, before touching the spirit's middle. </p>
<p>A white light glows between Jisung's fingers, and the fire spirit's core. The fae closes his eyes, feeling the energy rushing back and forth between the spirit and his fingers. He can feel and see the memories coursing through the fire spirit. A young woman, who enjoyed her life as a student, girlfriend, sister, and daughter before dying in a accidental fire in a office building. All of the good, and all of the bad tussles around the fire spirit's core. Memories and loyalty for the DokZuZhi melt away as it gets replaced by the memories of the fire spirit's past life. The white light starts to die out as the process finishes up. When it is done, both Jisung and the fire spirit fall to the ground. Chenle runs up to catch the fae, while Taeyong catches the fire spirit with the dropped bowl. Renjun drops the shield, and runs with everyone else to check on Jisung. "Did..it work?" Jisung asks weakly. Chenle nods his head, a smile growing on his face. "It did, you did it Sungie, you succeeded" </p>
<p>Jisung smiles back, before falling into unconsciousness. </p>
<p>He did it. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>It's the second to the last day of the family reunion when the group began to jump into spirit revival business. </p>
<p>Everyone woke up early in the morning to go into Jisung's room and work on reviving the three spirits that were staying with the fae. After feeding Pangxie and making sure she's ok, Renjun grabs his coat and looks back at the crab. "You got the walkie talkie right?" he asks the crab. Pangxie clamps her claws twice, and picks up the small walkie talkie next to her. "Good, ring us up if you need anything ok?" Pangxie clamps her claws again. Renjun smiles and waves good bye to the crab. "I'll be back to feed you at lunch, at around 12:00" is what he says before walking out of the room and closing the door. Right as he did so, he felt a grumble sound in his stomach. "Shoot, I need breakfast in order to function." Which is true, you can't go a day without breakfast.</p>
<p>If you do go a day without breakfast, then go eat some eggs right now, and get them nutrients.</p>
<p>The human stops in the hallway. He was thinking of going to the dining room to grab something, but he's not sure if he can without bumping into one of Mrs. Park's workers. "Maybe if I'm sneaky enough I could get a plate, but how can I do that?" </p>
<p>Then, he gets an idea. </p>
<p>"A invisibility potion!"</p>
<p>A invisibility potion indeed. </p>
<p>You may be wondering why Renjun would bring his potion materials to a vacation. Well, he didn't, but he had a feeling he might needed a few potions here and there, so he just brought a box of potion balls. Luckily, one of those happened to be a invisibility potion. Perfect for the occasion. </p>
<p>He texts his friends if they wanted food before taking the potion. Maybe he could grab a cart or something to bring the food. Nah, that would mean he would need to use the potion on the cart too. His friends replied that they are not hungry at the moment, but will get up and sneak around the house for food later. Alright, that's on them then, so Renjun goes ahead and takes the potion and walks to the dining room. From there, Renjun had grabbed a bowl of rice, and a plate of scrambled eggs, some seaweed soup, bacon, and a piece of bread. He smiles, knowing that his friends are gonna try to grab some of the food off of his plate ("I had asked if you guys wanted food and you said no, so don't touch my plate!" he would say to them). </p>
<p>Renjun walks out of the dining room with a plate in one hand, and a bowl of rice in the other. He looks at a mirror next to the door and sees the invisibility potion slowly wearing off. "Shoot, I gotta get upstairs" Renjun thinks. The human starts to book for the staircase sitting in the middle of the room. However, he stops when Hyo suddenly perches on top of the railing. He stares at Renjun with narrowed eyes, his neck threatening to expand. "Of course you can see me, you're a spiritual animal" Renjun whispers. He may be invisible, but he isn't silent. Hyo relaxes his eyes and gestures towards something with his head. Renjun furrows his eyebrows. He turns to look at what Hyo is gesturing to. From a distance, he can see Mrs. Park walking out of a hallway with a bunch of workers behind her.</p>
<p>"Chief Park! This is insane!" one of the workers calls out. "I suggest that we-" The worker stops talking. His mouth is forcibly closed by a silence spell, a strange thing for a grim reaper to learn. Mrs. Park whips her head towards the worker and glares at him. "You dare to go against my word!?" she yells. Hyo flies off of the podium and to the small table behind Renjun to get away from the woman. "We will go with this plan! I do not care what it takes, we will win!" she shouts further, and storms off to where she needed to go. "Oh by the way" she says to the worker. "You're fired!" Mrs. Park exclaims with a pointed finger, then goes back to walking off. "What the heck is going on??" Renjun whispers to Hyo. The bird shrugs, then takes Renjun's bowl of rice and flies upstairs. The human trusts he's taking it to Jisung's room so he doesn't have to carry it around. What a nice bird. Renjun looks at himself in the mirror. The potion wasn't glitching like it did before, but it could wear off at any minute. If he was going to get information secretly, he gotta do it fast. </p>
<p>The human quickly walks to catch up with Mrs. Park's group, making sure not to make any noise on his way. He stops when the group stops in front of a office door. He hides behind a wall just in case. "Everyone but Ms. Choi, Mr. Kim, and Mr. Lim are dismissed" Mrs. Park announces. "Thank you!" the workers say. They all run off, whispering quietly about something. Renjun hopes he heard wrong when he heard one lady whisper the word "war." </p>
<p>"Mr. Lim, I shall put you in charge of the trainees. They are going to participate in our military forces." </p>
<p>Military forces??</p>
<p>"Make sure to take this file to the General for men. I expect word from you a day after the reunion has ended." "Mr. Lim" nods and gives a bow to Mrs. Park. "Yes ma'am" he says, before walking off to his own office. "Mr. Kim, I need you to check on those spirits. Make sure to track that Kim Dongyoung down, and have him train them. Force, or not." </p>
<p>Renjun almost gasps. Why is Mrs. Park still hung up on using those spirits?</p>
<p>Mr. Kim mimics Mr. Lim's answer and walks off. At this time, Hyo flies over to the podium across from Renjun. The bird looks at him up and down and shakes his head. Renjun raises and eyebrow and looks at himself. "Did the potion wear off??" Renjun whispers. Hyo nods. Well at the very least Renjun is hiding behind this wall. "Hyojoo" Mrs. Park addresses. Renjun and Hyo perks up and look at the pair. "I trust you. Not only are you my right hand woman, you have also taken care of my son for a very long time." Renjun silently tuts. "Yeah, she took care of him better then you ever will" he thinks. He swears that Hyo did some sort of action close to snorting. "While I draft a declaration of war against the DokZuZhi, you will be put in charge of training Jisung to be our weapon." </p>
<p>Renjun widens his eyes. There's no way she's being serious right? Right? He looks at the owl across from him and gives a look that says, "she's joking right?" Hyo stares back at him and gives a solemn head shake. "T-training as a weapon?" Ms. Choi asks. She had seemed to try maintain her composure, but that didn't work. "May I ask you why?" she asks. Instead of getting mad, Mrs. Park puts a hand on Ms. Choi's shoulder and gives a grin. "Think about it. Jisung's explosions from yesterday were huge! If he were to be able to control it, we will be able to literally blow away the DokZuZhi off of this Earth! This war, will be done in a second." </p>
<p>"Are you not worried that he will be hurt?" Ms. Choi asks. Renjun holds his breath. Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes.</p>
<p>"No" </p>
<p>Renjun's heart drops. This woman, this bitch, just said she is willing to sacrifice her own son, her own offspring to win some war, that wasn't even on going. "He shall fulfill his purpose someway or another. If he's not going to be useful in battle or in grim reaper business, at the very least he shall be useful in this sense. I trust that you understand what I am saying." Ms. Choi doesn't, Renjun can tell by the look in her eyes. There was fury and sadness mixed together in her pupils, but her expression stayed nonchalant. "I do Ms. Choi. I'll get to it right away after everyone has had lunch" she says. "Good, I shall see you tomorrow morning at the meeting then." Ms. Choi gives Mrs. Park a bow as the latter walks towards another direction. Once she made sure the woman is truly gone, Ms. Choi turns towards Renjun's and Hyo's direction and walks over to them. Of course she sensed that they were there, Renjun's not surprised at that. He's more surprised on how Mrs. Park didn't sense them and rat them out the minute they hid behind the wall. </p>
<p>"Get Deity Moon and your friends in Jisung's room by lunch. Do not walk around here by yourself, it is too dangerous. I will arrive by the bedroom by then" Ms. Choi whispers to the human. Renjun nods. "Thank you" he says. Ms. Choi nods back and beckons Renjun and Hyo to go upstairs. They comply, and quickly run to Jisung's room. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"I don't think that's how you play patty cake." </p>
<p>Jaemin turns his head towards Jeno. "We're not playing patty cake, we are playing Soup, Macaroni." Yewon and the fire spirit nods their heads. They were playing a hand game with each other for the past 10 minutes. The group had began to research information about each spirit's past life, but now they were taking a break and were a bit bored. </p>
<p>Saving them from said boredom busts in Renjun with a plate of food and a owl on his head. "Huang! Oo you got food!" Donghyuck says. He tries to take a piece of bacon, but his hand gets slapped by Renjun's. "Oww" the merman whines, rubbing his hand. Renjun puts the plate down on the desk, shuts the door, and locks it. "Where's Taeil hyung right now" is all Renjun says. "There's a emergency that needs to be taken care of fast." </p>
<p>"Woah, slow down, what's going on" Mark asks, the atmosphere of the room turning a little serious. "Hyo and I just overheard Mrs. Park planning to declare war against the DokZuZhi" Renjun says. "WHAT!?" the group yells in unison. "They can't just declare war against a organization based in the living world, that wouldn't be morally right!" Donghyuck exclaims. "Yeah! Plus, what good would a war do!? It'll just make things worse!" Jeno adds after. Renjun presses his lips together. Jaemin furrows his eyebrows. "Renjun?" he says. The human sighs and tugs on his hair with his hands. He gives a look at Jisung, who tilts his head. Without a word, Jisung immeaditly gets what Renjun is trying to say, and slams his notebook onto the floor. "I shall no longer be a Park, Chenle adopt me" he says. "Gladly, we'll get the paperwork done by tomorrow morning" Chenle says. </p>
<p>"What? Explain before you make any jokes" Mark says (though everyone knew that wasn't actually a joke). "My mom is going to use me as a weapon for the war" Jisung says. Ice starts to form around his feet again, but this time at a faster rate. "She's..going to use me.." he says, a little less angry. The fae plops onto his bed, looking at the floor. His heart is beating, sweat is starting to form on his forehead. "She..She's going to use me as a weapon..A bomb..She doesn't care that if I die" he says. Chenle hugs him from behind. "We're not going to let that happen" Jeno says. "Not on our watch." Jaemin looks at Hyo. "Find Taeil hyung and them would ya?" The owl nods his head and flies off of the spot he was on next to Jisung. Donghyuck gets up and opens the door to let the bird out, then closes it after. </p>
<p>"Jisung whatever you're thinking about, don't" Jeno says. Jisung doesn't look up. Chenle slowly unwraps his arms from Jisung's torso. "Sungie?" he asks in a soft tone. Jisung doesn't answer. Renjun sighs and kneels in front of the boy, putting a hand on his knee. "Jisung.." he says. </p>
<p>"Hyung" Jisung finally says. "This could be my chance." Donghyuck crosses his arms. "Your chance to what? To sacrifice yourself for someone who doesn't care about you!?" Jisung looks up at the merman. "No, this could be my chance to finally make my mother proud." Renjun grabs the fae's hand and squeezes it. "Jisung no, that isn't the answer. That NEVER should be the answer" he pleads. The ice around Jisung was growing harder and colder. It was freezing half of his bed. "Jisung don't fall for her plan, it's just another trick" Mark says. Jisung looks back down at his feet again. "But.." </p>
<p>"Jisung" </p>
<p>Jaemin walks over to Jisung. Renjun gets up and lets the hybrid take his place. "I know that we told you to do what you want to do, but dying for someone who won't even blink an eye at you isn't what we are talking about." Jaemin sighs and gathers his words. "Jisung, we all think of you as our little brother, our family. No one wants to lose their family, we don't want to lose you." There were tears that glistened in Jaemin's eyes. "Please, think about us, think about the hyungs. Think about Ms. Choi. Instead of your mom, please think about the people who really care about you, I'm begging you." A tear rolls down Jaemin's cheek. This is the first time Jisung has ever seen Jaemin cry. This hyung was like Mark, strong, doesn't let his guard down. To see his wall crumble down a little like that, at the thought of Jisung losing his life, made the fae feel guilty, yet loved.</p>
<p>He felt loved. </p>
<p>"Hyung" Jisung says, tears threatening to leave his sockets. He jumps down the bed and hugs the hybrid tightly. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" the fae cries out. Jaemin chuckles and wraps his arms around the younger. "Don't apologize for anything you didn't do" he says quietly. </p>
<p>When Hyo comes back with Taeil and the others, they find the group on the floor by Jisung's bed in another hug huddle, with Jisung sobbing in the middle and the spirits floating around them for comfort. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"That's it, we're leaving this place." </p>
<p>Everyone looks at Doyoung. The ghost was angry. "If they're planning to use Jisung and the spirits for dangerous purposes, I suggest that we leave and get our planning done in Neo City, where most of our materials are." Taeil puts his hands up. "Ok calm down, we are not going to do that" Taeil says. "How can I be calm in a situation like this!? This woman is planning to kill Jisung and the spirits just so she can win a proxy war!" Doyoung exclaims. "That she started" Donghyuck adds. "No, we are not leaving until we get another problem settled" Taeil says. Doyoung whips his head towards the dragon. "What other problem could possibly be worse the a war!?" Taeil raises an eyebrow. "Oh I don't know, think about who the Grim Reapers are planning to fight." </p>
<p>Oh yeah the DokZuZhi. </p>
<p>Honestly speaking, everyone kinda forgot about the DokZuZhi. Renjun doesn't know if that makes Mrs. Park worse then the DokZuZhi or it just means the group can only focus on one topic at a time.</p>
<p>(Conclusion: It's both) </p>
<p>"If we manage to get rid of the DokZuZhi first, then we should be able to prevent the war" Taeil explains. Ms. Choi grabs everyone's attention and sighs. She had arrived in the room not too long ago. "I'm afraid that's not going to do it, Mrs. Park would still want to engage in a war with the whole organization." Taeil looks at the woman and crosses his arms. "Well, wouldn't that mean she would get fired from her position? She's abusing her power as a grim reaper." Ms. Choi opens her mouth, then closes it. It seemed like Taeil had a good point. "But what's so different between the DokZuZhi and evil spirits? Wouldn't the spirit world allow it?" Jeno asks. Taeil shakes his head. "Nope, cause there is a technicality. Revived elemental spirits aren't seen as evil spirits because they didn't escape the spirit world. They've never stepped a toe, into the spirit world, thus there's no sense of catching them and throwing them into hell." </p>
<p>"So, what you're saying" Jisung starts. He gets up from his bed and walks over to the dragon. "If we go with this plan, my mother could be stopped? For good?" Taeil shrugs. "Well that depends whether or not we succeed." He puts his hand into his pocket and digs around for something. When he finds it, he pulls it out. There they were, Jisung's ice bombs tied together into a leather bracelet, ready to be used. Jisung scowls at the bombs instead of giving them a hello. "Look, I'm not asking you to blow up" Taeil says. "You don't HAVE to use them. I know how you feel about these." He sighs, and takes Jisung's hand. "But-" Taeil opens the fae's palm and lays the bracelet down. "-you've seen how Donghyuck was able to use his tool. I know you can too. Remember, you don't have to use it the correct way. These are yours, so use them how YOU want to use them." Jisung looks at the bracelet then at Taeil. He sighs and silently puts the bracelet on. Taeil smiles and puts a hand on Jisung's shoulder. "Thank you for giving it a chance." </p>
<p>"How are we going to take the DokZuZhi when they have a large army of poisonous gas spirits?" Chenle asks. "Yeah, that wall that the twins were riding on is the problem" Donghyuck adds on. As Jisung went to go sit down, rubbing the bracelet on his wrist, Renjun continues to think. What should they do about that wall? He thinks more, when he composes, a question. "Doyoung hyung." The aforementioned ghost hums. "Why did you stake a spirit?" The whole room turns their attention towards the doctor. Instead of getting nervous or fidgety, Doyoung only sits there, confused. "Oh! You meant when I stabbed that poisonous gas spirit in the core?" he asks. Renjun nods. "Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that" Mark says. Doyoung nods, and takes out a small knife with flower decoration on the sheath. "The poisonous gas spirits aren't actual spirits" Doyoung says, playing with the knife in his hand. "They're illusions created by sap of a Nightmare Hallucination Flower." Renjun tuts. Of course the DokZuZhi would utilize those flowers. They should have that as their logo instead of that stupid Hanja character, at the very least it's prettier. </p>
<p>"That means, we don't have to worry about hurting them" Kun adds on. "Out of all the years we interacted with the DokZuZhi, we've never seen an actual poisonous gas spirit." Donghyuck narrows his eyes. "And how many years has that been?" Kun looks up to the ceiling and thinks. "Hm, about 18 years?" he answers. "Oh my god you've been doing this since we were born?" Jeno asks. Doyoung  puts the knife away and beckons for Taeil to continue his planning. "Oh no I'm done. I'm waiting for the boys to come up with something." Taeil likes to have the boys plan out all of the investigations, that's why he's secretly their favorite hyung. </p>
<p>(Don't tell Doyoung that) </p>
<p>"Well, we still have those revival machines we gotta worry about" Mark says. Renjun nods. "The last time we had gone up against a Jo family member, we went for the person first instead of the revival machines, but maybe this time we can go for the opposite." Taeil tilts his head. "Oh? Why so?" he asks. "Because the members we are going up against are too powerful for us to go up against" Jaemin answers. "And there's two of them" Donghyuck adds. "Like you said, their synchronized attack is way to hard to fight against." Taeyong shivers. "God I'm getting nightmares from you just mentioning it." Taeil hums. "Well it sounds like a good plan to me, problem is, the reunion is going to only last so long." </p>
<p>"What about tonight?" Jisung asks. Taeil gives the fae his attention. "Usually the day before the last day isn't the most exciting. People often go to sleep early since they wanna be up all night the next day" Jisung explains. Ms. Choi nods. "I can retrieve the map you saw in the presentation" she says. Jisung nods. "The revival machines will most likely be there." Taeil claps his hands together. "This could work, but we gotta get reinforcements. For now, let's think about the details." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The plan is, is to split into four separate groups. </p>
<p>Each team is to take down each revival machine, and to grab evidence for the police. Coming along on this mission are Johnny, Yuta, Jungwoo, and Ten, who joined because he was bored, saying quote; "I'd rather have my butt kicked by some poisonous gas wads then to sit in this creaky ass mansion and just stare at the old paint slowly chipping off of the wall." </p>
<p>"I thought they repainted the rooms for the reunion?" Mark says. Ten shakes his head. "Not mine apparently! There's that one little chip that's just there, hanging off of the wall as if its mocking me" he says, clenching his fist and shaking it. "I can see why the school picked him as the drama advisor" Renjun whispers to Donghyuck. The merman nods his head. "Everyone had that same thought when we first met him." </p>
<p>Everyone met in Jisung's room for a briefing of the plan, then Ms. Choi passes out a map to each group. "I'm sure Mrs. Park and the rest of the reapers did not find the revival machines yet, but if they did, she most likely have placed guards in front of them, so please be careful." Taeil nods his head and adds, "yes, and even then, there's still going to be agents lurking around the machines, so keep a look out."</p>
<p>Everyone gets the idea, and get ready to leave. As they walk out of the door, Yewon peeks from the area Jisung made for her near his bed and flies towards the fae. The wind and fire spirit watch as their companion taps Jisung on the shoulder before he leaves through the door. When he turns around, Jisung immeaditly blocks the door from letting Yewon outside. "Sorry Yewon you can't, this is a very dangerous mission." Yewon glows a determined light blue and flies around in circles. "I know you got better, but this isn't like flying around the city or playing in the snow. I need you to be right here ok?" Jisung looks over to the wind spirit, and the fire spirit. "You guys can keep watch of her right?" Both of them nods their heads. Jisung gives them a small smile and looks back at Yewon. "We won't be gone for long" he says. 

"I'll see you soon Yewon." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Like the locations in Dream City, the locations of the revival machines in the Sul Mountains are on the outskirts of the town. Luckily, the town isn't too big, but if a group were to require help from another, it will take a while for that help to get to where they are. </p>
<p>Donghyuck looks out the window of the car, his bells jingling when Johnny drives over a speed bump. "Are you actually going to fight with us hyung?" Mark asks Taeil. The dragon sitting in the front sit shrugs his shoulders and looks at Mark through the rear view mirror. "I don't know, depends on how severe the fight is" he answers. Donghyuck stops looking out the window and looks at the dragon in the front. "So the reason why you've never fought with us is because you thought the fights were in were too easy?" Johnny blows a low whistle. "When you put it that way, that does sound a bit cocky hyung" he laughs. Taeil shrugs. "But it's true though, plus I knew you guys could handle it, and you did just fine." </p>
<p>When they get to their target location, the upper left machine, they arrive at a chain linked fence blocking off the rest of the mountain. There is a sign that reads, "NO TRESPASSING!!", but it is old and faded. "Now, where would that machine be" Johnny says as he gets out of the car. He stretches his body first before closing the door. Mark and Donghyuck join the wolf in his stretching while Taeil scans the area, looking for any signs of agents or a machine. "Looks like we're at a starting point" he says. He turns towards his younger companions. "Does the map say where the machine is specifically?" Mark shakes his head while looking at the map. "Nope, there's just this big ol' X sitting on the area we're in." </p>
<p>Something glints from the distance behind the fence. Donghyuck catches it, and squints through the loops of the wires and sees something reflecting the moonlight. "There's something over there" the merman says, pointing at the glint of light. Everyone turns to where he's pointing at. Taeil spots it, then observes the fence in front of them. "There is indeed something there, but I'm afraid we can't get to it" he says. "Why?" the rest of the team asks. Taeil gestures to the fence. "This fence is coated with poisonous gas. One touch and we could lose a whole finger." Mark takes a look at the fence. There was some sort of purple mist surrounding the whole fence. It could be better seen in the daytime, but it's really hard to tell that it is there in the night. Luckily, Taeil was able to spot it before any one of them decided to climb the fence. "What should we do then?" Johnny asks. Taeil doesn't answer, but he gives a certain look at the Donghyuck. The merman was already thinking of a plan. He snaps his fingers. "Let's use water orbs hyung" he says. Taeil smiles and nods. "Good thinking." He turns towards the two unsuspecting North Americans. "This is going to be a little cold, so don't mind it too much." </p>
<p>Without giving time to respond, Taeil and Donghyuck encase both Mark and Johnny into a large water orb and throws them across the fence. "OW!" Mark exclaims when he hits a tree. "Shhh!" Donghyuck shushes from across the fence. Johnny was in a better condition when he landed. He managed to turn into his wolf form and roll through the snow. "You ok John?" Taeil asks. The wolf's head peeks out from the snow, turns around, and nods. </p>
<p>"Alright, it's time for you to practice more with those bells" Taeil says to Donghyuck. The latter nods and moves his bells out from the handle. He manipulates them into a platform, strands of water connected each bell giving the platform a criss cross pattern. The merman jumps onto the bells and moves them up the fence and down to the ground on the other side, jumping off then manipulates the bells back to his handle. "Hey, why didn't you do that for us?" Mark asks when he gets up. He was dripping wet, which makes Donghyuck snicker a little. "The bells are only nice to me since I'm their owner. If you hopped into that platform, they would've caged you like animal trap" he says. He dusts Mark's shoulder's off, then attempts to take most of the water off of him. "Sorry, don't know how to do it without sucking the moisture out of your body" he says. He had gotten at least 50% of the water off, so Mark didn't mind. The vampire just smiles and wraps his arm around the younger. "Nah it's fine, just keep me warm will ya?" </p>
<p>In the meanwhile Taeil crosses over, surfing on a wave he made by himself, and gracefully landing on the snow. He lifts the water off of Johnny with ease right after. "Thanks hyung" the wolf says. Taeil nods and tells Mark to come over. "Doyoung is going to kill me if he knew I let you walked around in a snowy forest while dripping wet" the dragon mumbles, then gets the water off of the younger. Mark thanks Taeil, then looks at the moon's reflected light in the distance. "Alrighty" Johnny says. "Let's get this over with!" </p>
<p>They start their trek over to the light silently until they reached their destination. Unsurprisingly, they found the machine, the glint being the moonlight reflecting off of the metal exterior of the chamber. "They'd just leave a contraption out here alone like this?" Johnny asks, eyeing the machine up and down. "Apparently so, that's how they left the ones in Dream City" Mark says. Donghyuck nods in agreement. He still remembers when he had chased Jo Ahyoung and Haebin to the revival machine, the chamber and panel sitting on a empty sea plain where not even the smallest algae lived by. "Well, we're here, so let's get searching" Johnny says, clasping his hands together.</p>
<p>And so they did.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>While the upper parts of the town had mountains, the lower half had flatter forests.</p>
<p>"Wow, I don't think we've ever been in a forest that wasn't on a hill this entire trip!" Chenle exclaims. Kun laughs, keeping his eyes on the road. Jeno scans through the shops and homes they pass by for any sort of sign of DokZuZhi presence. People seemed to be less on guard here then the ones in Dream City. Maybe they didn't know that the DokZuZhi were here. Maybe they trust that the grim reapers on Daebing Mountain will protect them. </p>
<p>The car suddenly stops. Jeno stops looking outside of the window and looks towards the front. Kun had stopped in front of forest with no visible road or path. "Well, I guess we're going to have to walk" Kun sighs.</p>
<p>The magician parks the car on the side, then gets out with the others. They all start to walk into the forest, the snow crunching underneath their feet as they took each step. The moon seemed to be on their side, as provided some light into the forest, so they don't have to blindly walk in the dark (though, since Jeno and Yuta are nocturnal, it's possible for them to see just fine in the dark even without the moonlight). "Any ideas on where this machine could be?" Yuta asks. He was having trouble stepping over some of the bundles of snow, and eventually just gave up in the end and turned into his wolf form. "Nope! The X on the map doesn't mark a specific location" Chenle says. Kun sighs. "We don't have much time to just walk around before the sun rises though, so we gotta find some sort of hint quick." </p>
<p>A rustle from the trees catches Jeno's attention. It makes Yuta perk up to, the wolf stopping and turning around. Kun and Chenle also stops, trying to see what Jeno and Yuta were looking at. "What's wrong?" Kun asks. Jeno shakes his head. He puts his hand on the pocket that holds his whistle, but doesn't take it out. He waits for something else to happen, but that something else, doesn't happen. "Let's continue to walk with caution" Kun says. The rest of the group agrees, and they continue on their trek. </p>
<p>5 minutes in, Chenle groans. "There's usually some sort of hint, or sign that should lead us to what we're looking for, where's that thing!" Kun shushes him. "Don't be so loud, we don't know if there's agents nearby" he whispers. "Well if they were, at the very least we would know we would be close to the machine" Chenle whispers back. Jeno gives Kun a nervous eye smile and puts a hand on Chenle's head. "Calm down Chenle, we'll find it soon" he says. From those words, Yuta changes back into his human form. "I don't know, I agree with the leprechaun here, we've been walking for like 10 minutes and we still haven't found anything." </p>
<p>Then suddenly, they found something.</p>
<p>Well they didn't FIND something, but they definitely heard it. It was the rustling in the trees again. Everyone froze. Jeno takes out his whistle from his pocket, Yuta closes his ears. The younger wolf blows on the whistle, and waits for the sound to bounce off every tree and plant in the forest until eventually, it bounces off of a core. </p>
<p>"It's a spirit" Jeno says. "Is it close or far from us?" Yuta asks. The rustling gets noticeably louder then before. "It sounds like it's getting closer" Chenle answers instead. In response, Kun summons a light blue orb from his hand and gets into a fighting stance. "Get ready, we don't know if it's a DokZuZhi spirit or not." A soft glow of neon yellow light approaches them form a distance. Jeno and Yuta get into their fighting stances, Chenle manipulates rocks from the floor and holds them. They all wait for the spirit to come to them, the glow getting brighter and brighter as it gets closer. The spirit eventually shoots out from the trees and stops right in front of Jeno's face. No one moves. Jeno and the spirit stare at each other, processing and evaluating whether or not the other is a friend or a foe. Then after a few seconds of observation, Jeno drops his fighting stance and suddenly shushes the spirit. "You're gonna get us caught!" he whispers. </p>
<p>The lightning spirit pales in color, and bows as a apology. The rest of the group drops their stances and sigh in relief. It wasn't a DokZuZhi spirit. "Sorry, we thought you were a part of the DokZuZhi, and we got scared" Jeno says in a softer tone. The color glows back into the lightning spirit as it shakes its head, probably saying "well I'm not part of the DokZuZhi!" Chenle steps forward next to Jeno and asks the lightning spirit was it was out in the forest by itself. "Are you lost? Are you part of the rehabilitation center on Daebing Mountain?" The lightning spirit nods, then shakes its head. It answered yes to the first question, but no to the second. "Where did you come from then?" Chenle asks further. The color from the spirit pales out again. Jeno raises an eyebrow and looks towards Kun and Yuta. The two men were also a bit confused by the lightning ghost's response. The lightning spirit points its tail towards the side of the forest. Jeno and Chenle turn their heads towards the direction of the lightning spirit's tail. They squint and see something metal in the distance, with the moonlight reflecting off of it. Chenle widens his eyes. "The revival machine" he says. He turns towards Jeno. "Wait, if the spirit came from there, then.." Jeno doesn't answer and shrugs his shoulders. Either the spirit is lying to the group, or the machine is used to do something else to other spirits other then reviving. Considering how tame the lightning spirit is acting towards the four, it is best to assume that it is the latter. </p>
<p>"Were there other spirits there?" Kun asks. The lightning spirit nods its head, still pale. Kun and Yuta take their turns to widen their eyes and share glances. "If the agents have taken the spirits to the machine to do something, we gotta get to them" Yuta says. Jeno and Chenle look at each other and nod. "Get away from here as far as you can. Get to Neo City" Jeno says. The lightning spirit nods. It looks towards the direction of the machine. "Don't worry" Chenle says, catching the lightning spirit's attention. "We'll save your friends, just go and tell others not to come here." The lightning spirit nods again, its color brightening up to a hopeful regular yellow color. It bows its head, then zips off to safety. "Alright people" Yuta starts. "Let's go kick some DokZuZhi buttocks." </p>
<p>"Buttocks?"</p>
<p>"Shush Jeno, don't tell Johnny that I said that." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Renjun wonders if the others are ok.</p>
<p>They should be right? They have each other and their hyungs. He's the only Dreamie in his group and quite honestly, it worries him more when not even one other of his friend group is with him in the car. </p>
<p>"I'm sure they're fine Renjun, don't worry too much about it" Doyoung assures from the front seat. "Yeah! And even if they are in trouble, they'll follow the procedure and come back to the mansion!" Jungwoo exclaims. "They have brain cells, they should know what to do." </p>
<p>Well, some of his friends have more brain cells then others, but we don't need to talk about that.</p>
<p>"Should we get some bread? We're about to pass by a really good bakery" Ten says while looking outside of the window. Doyoung tuts. "We're on a mission right now, how can you have the audacity to ask if we can get bread?" Ten turns towards the ghost and gives him a striking smile. "You're forgetting this is my first time working with you people, how should I know what your rules are?" Doyoung groans and Renjun and Jungwoo giggle from the backseat, almost forgetting what awaits for them in the forest. </p>
<p>Unlike Jeno's group, the forest this group enters has a road. Renjun looks out the window, scanning for anything suspicious or important. He thanks the snow and the moon for their presence this night, otherwise it would've been really hard to see anything. "If I were a revival machine, where would I be?" Jungwoo asks, tapping his chin. He looks out his window, and mimics Renjun, searching for anything noteworthy to stop for. Meanwhile in the front, Doyoung spots a sign ahead of them. "Ten what does that say?" he asks. Ten looks up from his phone and squints at the sign. When Doyoung slows down to a stop, the headlights shine upon the wooden sign that said "Sul Mountain Reserve." </p>
<p>"Didn't the Sul Mountain Reserve close down a long time ago?" Ten asks. Renjun stops looking outside of the window. "Why would they close down a reserve? Aren't reserves made for protection?" Ten turns around. "Yeah, but they close down the reserve after the Grim Reapers said they'll take care of the forest." Doyoung sighs. "But considering that the DokZuZhi managed to plant a machine here means they're not doing a very good job." Ten gives a short laugh and looks out his window at the forgotten park benches and the Reserve's office house. "At this point, we're really just fighting the Grim Reapers" Ten says. </p>
<p>Doyoung parks the car in the Reserve's parking lot. The group jumps out of the car, taking out their phones for a flashlight. They point them at the abandoned tables, benches, and paths. "Geez, this looks like a scene right out from a horror movie" Jungwoo shivers. Renjun looks at Doyoung. "The machine should be in the Reserve right? It makes sense to plant something in a area that's somewhat developed." Doyoung nods. "Yes, let's go take a look around and search for location clues." They split into two halves, Doyoung and Jungwoo going to search the Reserve's old office and Renjun and Ten searching the benches and tables. </p>
<p>The office house looked like a typical Reserve house. It was a wooden house, giving off American cabin vibes to the pair. Doyoung tries opening the door, but it seems to be locked. He steps aside for Jungwoo to knock the door down, the gumiho slamming his hand in the middle of the door making it fall down. "I can't believe you just chi blocked a door" Doyoung says staring at the fallen wood square. Jungwoo dusts his hands off and looks at the older. "Me neither to be honest." </p>
<p>During this time, Renjun had spotted a little flower on the ground. It looked similar to the orange and yellow flowers back at Cherry Park, and held blue petals around its head. It seemed to be fine sitting in the cold snow (something Renjun truly cannot relate), and was swaying to the wind, while staring at the moon. "Excuse me." The flower turns around. Renjun turns off his flashlight, not wanting to shine it at the little flower, and crouches down. "Do you mind me asking a few questions?" The little blue flower nods its head, its petals moving along with it. Renjun giggles at the cute flower and hugs his knees to his chest (he had Jaemin's white hoodie on him, but it was still very cold). </p>
<p>"Have you seen some very scary people in black Hanbok walking around here somewhere?" Ten at this time joins Renjun and catches him wiggle his fingers in front of the flower. "They might've had some sore of dark purple around them" Renjun continues speaking, ignoring the look Ten is giving him. The flower nods its head again, and points to the path leading up to the actual nature part of the reserve. "Uh, do you happen to know where specifically where they went?" Ten asks. The flower shakes its head. Renjun and Ten share glances, then the human thanks the flower. The little thing nods its head and bows towards the pair, before looking back at the moonlight. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Jisung always loved the crunch of the snow under his feet. It was the one thing he missed about the Sul Mountains. The cold, the snow, the pretty sunsets that featured the sun dipping behind the town and surrounding it with its colors of orange and pink. Sure the sunsets and sunrises at District Dream are good, but nothing beats a sunset at Sul Mountains for Jisung.</p>
<p>Jisung, Jaemin, Ms. Choi, and Taeyong were walking up a trail on a mountain. There was nothing special about it really, but what confuses the fae is that this mountain is actually opened to the public for hiking, hence the present trail. Why the DokZuZhi would plant a machine in a public area beats him. </p>
<p>From the side, Jaemin watches anxiously as Taeyong continues to blow fire from his mouth, and rub his arms in a attempt in keeping warm. Out of all the people in this mission, Taeyong must be having the hardest time right now (Jaemin also has this worry about Renjun at the back of his mind, wondering if the human is warm enough or not). "Don't worry, I'm fine" Taeyong says when Jaemin asks if he was ok. "I'm getting warmer by the second as we're walking, you can always count on exercise for making you sweat hehe." Ms. Choi, who was way ahead of the boys and the fire spirit in walking, stops and turns around. "Would you like me to put a heating spell on you Mr. Lee? That way you don't have to pass out from hyperventilation." Taeyong laughs, but shakes his head. "Thank you Ms. Choi but n-" </p>
<p>"Yes please, please put it on him" Jaemin says. Taeyong looks at Jaemin, confused. "Hyung I don't want you to freeze. You're not a human anymore, you're a fire elemental. You gotta be careful in places like this." The revived spirit gives Jaemin an small smile and pats his head. "Doyoung has raised you well" he says, then looks at Ms. Choi and nods. The woman nods back and brings up a orange ball from her palm, and presses it into Taeyong's chest. Instantly, Taeyong becomes warmer, much to Jaemin's relief. "Thank you" Taeyong says. Ms. Choi bows. "Always happy to help." </p>
<p>They all walk for a few more minutes until Ms. Choi had announced they are almost at the end of the trail. "Well that was a short hike" Taeyong comments. "We happened to take the regular path which is the shortest of the three options we have. Shall we go to one of the harder ones and see if we can find anything there?" Ms. Choi asks. Right after she asks that question, Jisung spots something in the distance. He squints his eyes at the top of the mountain where hikers are able to rest in a picnic/eatery area after they are done hiking. Though instead of picnic tables, and the usual opened play area for kids, a gigantic machine was placed on top of it. Jisung widens his eyes. "Uh" Everyone turns towards Jisung. "I think, I found the machine" he says, pointing towards the picnic tables.</p>
<p>"Yes you did!" </p>
<p>The group jolts and turns around. Jo Ahrim was walking up to them, a grin on her face. "Congratulations! You found a machine. Do you want your prize?" </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>They are so dead.</p>
<p>Well technically they are dead, but they will be forcibly sent to the spirit world after this.</p>
<p>Well, Jisung doesn't seem like a bad person. He isn't scary like the DokZuZhi people or the Grim Reapers, .</p>
<p>Anyways the point is, Jisung had told them, specifically Yewon, to stay in the room. </p>
<p>But nooo, Yewon HAD to want to follow the fae to wherever he had to go.</p>
<p>Hyuckjin can only wince when he watches Hyo, the very scary owl that likes to play with that nice yellow flower, flaps its wings against Yewon. The ice spirit had been trying to fly out of the window to follow Jisung ever since the fae reaper left with his friends to, wherever they needed to go.</p>
<p>Hyuckjin doesn't know what's going on. He doesn't want to know what's going on. He just wants to go back to playing with Heejun in Cherry Park thank you very much. </p>
<p>The wind spirits sees Eunkyung shake her head in disappointment when Yewon tries to freeze the window to break through, but the owl already blocked her and pushed her away from the window. The aforementioned ice spirit turns to her unni and looks at her for help, the fire spirit shakes her head. Yewon turns to Hyuckjin. He also shakes his head. Why does Yewon want to follow Jisung so bad? Sure the dude is a great guy to be around, but he said what he was doing was dangerous! Why would you want to go somewhere that's dangerous! </p>
<p>Granting Hyuckjin's wish of just staying down, Yewon gives up and sinks above the covers of Jisung's bed. At last, the young ice spirit had calmed down and peace has restored in the bedroom. </p>
<p>For like, 3.5 seconds. </p>
<p>Yewon suddenly jumps up from her bed and slithers onto the ground like a snake, under the slit of the door. Shocked and quite honestly very startled, Hyuckjin, Eunkyung, and Hyo, all sit at their places for a moment before moving into action. Hyuckjin blows the door open with his wind elemental and goes straight into chasing the young ice spirit with Eunkyung. He didn't get to see the frightened Dejun, Gunhang, Yukhei, Sungchan, Shotaro, and Yoonoh, standing outside of the door whilst in the middle of opening it to check on the spirits like Doyoung had asked them to. Hyo flies out of the room and catches the men staring at the three spirits. "What's going on??" Yoonoh asks the bird. The owl gestures towards the rouge ice spirit, and for the men to help him catch her. As a response, Dejun, Shotaro, and Sungchan turn into their spirit form and flies off to go after the ice spirit, Hyo, and the others following after them. </p>
<p>The chase followed Yewon through the hallways of bedrooms, and down the stairs. She looks back, and spots not two, but five spirits going after her. Panicked, Yewon flies even faster and manages to see an opened window down the stairs. She picks up speed, and so does Hyuckjin and Eunkyung, and they follow her through the crowd of Grim Reapers, and out the window. </p>
<p>Dejun, Shotaro, and Sungchan in the meanwhile, are unable to catch up. Instead of going out the window, they fly right into spirit nets, held ready for them by grim reapers. Hyo, Yoonoh, Gunhang, and Yukhei, all stop on the steps of the stairs, surrounded by grim reapers in the front, and from the back. The elemental spirits change back into their human forms, and try to wrestle out of the net. Yukhei transforms into his wolf form, and Yoonoh and Gunhang get into their fighting stances. </p>
<p>"Jung Yoonoh!" Yoonoh looks at the middle and narrows his eyes at his aunt as she walks through the middle of the crowd. She had her narcissistic hands behind her back as if she was Great King Sejong himself, and had smug smirk on her face. "You know I expected all of this to come from Jisung, that little brat, but you. Out of all the people here, why are you going against my orders?" Yoonoh hardens his stance. There's many reasons why he went against his aunt. He never liked the way she treated Jisung, and as soon as he heard what happened to Jisung earlier today from Taeyong, it was the last straw. Mrs. Park puts out her hand towards Yoonoh. "Join us Jung Yoonoh. I know deep down you will fight with your brethren for what it is right." </p>
<p>"What you're doing isn't right" Yoonoh spits out. "What you're doing, is genocide." Mrs. Park frowns. "What I am doing, is revolution! Protecting the people!" She drops the inviting aura of her hand, and points at Yoonoh instead. "If you are not going to join us, then you are deemed as a traitor! Just like Jisung, his father, and Ms. Choi are! All of you are traitors! And when there are traitors, I must exterminate them for the protection of the Grim Reaper realm!" </p>
<p>"Shit, shit, shit" Sungchan repeats in his head. He's gotta get out this net fast. He shares glances with Shotaro. The wind spirit was having a hard time too. He looks at Dejun. The water spirit was silently trying to cut the ropes with a small water strike, but not even the tiniest cut is being made. Sungchan looks at the ropes of the net. It's a spirit net made to keep spirits inside. It's impossible for them to get out, but Kun had taught them a way before. Ugh! But what was it? Sungchan should've remembered! He always remembered what Kun had taught in his class! The Earth spirit looks at Dejun again. The older was still trying to cut the ropes with his tiny strikes. Now that he looks at it for a second time, what Dejun is doing looks strange. It doesn't seem like he is trying to get out. The water spirit senses Sungchan looking at him, and gives a look back. His eyes turn dark blue for a second before trying to cut the ropes. </p>
<p>Sungchan's got it. He looks towards Shotaro. It seems like the other had gotten the message too. They share nods and look at Yoonoh. What they need to do is to channel enough energy to make their elementals strong enough to break open the nets, and push the grim reapers down. Kun had taught them that, even through it has been said that spirit nets are made to hold spirits, there are different versions. The older ones are much more easier to break through, and it only requires a splurge of high energy elemental power. It seemed like Yoonoh caught on a long time ago, and is now stalling for the spirits. He eyes Sungchan. The young spirit nods, and takes a deep breath, Shotaro and Dejun already having done the action seconds prior.</p>
<p>"I need to channel my energy from my core to through the rest of my body" Sungchan thinks. He takes another deep breath. He can feel his power coursing through his veins and arteries, to his fingers, and to his legs, and to his heart. "You can do this, you've been revived, nothing can stop you know." He can feel the energy from the Earth below him. The hardness of the rocks, the grains of the soil. "Earth, my elemental is Earth." He imagines pieces of rocks coming together into one ball. He makes them tight enough so that it becomes one boulder. He opens his eyes. Yoonoh smiles when sees dark yellow, dark blue, and lilac eyes looking at him. He turns to his aunt and says, "you might wanna duck and cover." </p>
<p>Everything gets blown apart. Shotaro's wind manages to through everyone back, and Dejun's water, and Sungchan's rocks are what made everything stay back. They managed to blow the spirit nets apart with ease. Yoonoh knows that Mrs. Park had assumed the spirits were too weak to break through the nets, and were not good enough for the good and strong ones, so as soon as Yukhei pointed out what Dejun was doing, all he could do is smile. </p>
<p>Mrs. Park gets up from the ground, soaking wet, and stomach in pain from the blow from a rock and wind. She watches as her nephew, and his friends join the revived spirits at the bottom of the stairs. She laughs. The group of men stare at the deranged women, startled by her unsettling laugh. Suddenly she brings out her sword, and her eyes becoming a dark grey. </p>
<p>"Fine? You wanna join this war? Then join it! Let it become a three way fight!" She points her sword at the men as her workers get up from the floor. "Today I declare war, against the DokZuZhi, and my son, Park Jisung!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading! </p>
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<p>  <a href="https://linktr.ee/monchick">Linktree</a></p>
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<a name="section0046"><h2>46. 31. Ice</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Dreamies engage in the Sul Mountain War.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hmmm, hello my beautiful salamanders huhuhu </p>
<p>Here's the newest chapter! Hope you guys are having a great day</p>
<p>AP Exams are coming up soon, so I wish you all good luck! I'm only taking one, but I know there's a lot of people taking like 5 (which, kudos to you all holy shit), so don't beat down your mental health! Take lots of breaks and don't just focus on studying! </p>
<p>Cause you're going to get the college credit no matter what you do huhuhu </p>
<p>Hope you enjoy this chapter! </p>
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    <p>Donghyuck was wondering why this was all too easy. </p>
<p>He was wondering why he and his group were able to calmly dismantle the machine and gather some of its parts for inspection without being pummeled by some form of punching. They were just about to leave when suddenly Johnny is almost shot by a lightning bolt. </p>
<p>DokZuZhi agents were waiting for them at the front of the machine. </p>
<p>"There they are!" Donghyuck exclaims. Before he could say another word, and agent begins the fight by charging towards Donghyuck in her wolf form. The merman swiftly dodges, and takes his bells off of his handle, the parts of the machine safely tucked in to his secret pocket. He notices the blue band around the wolf's neck and smirks. "It's a shame that I have to fight one of my kind" he says, and attacks with a jingling water strike. </p>
<p>Mark blocks a punch by a fire vampire. He clenches his teeth when the revived spirit begins to press down onto him. Mark is able to gain the upper hand, by grabbing a fistful of snow and throwing it at the vampire's face. He kicks him in the stomach as the agent was screaming in agony from the coldness of the snow on his face, to the ground. However, his victory is short lived when a plant mermaid ties Mark's ankles to the ground with vines and gives him his own taste of his medicine by knocking him to the ground with a water strike. Fallen out from his hand, are the blue prints from the machine's compartment area. The plant mermaid walks over to the paper, and picks it up. When she realizes what it is, she tuts. "You know, it's not nice of you to steal what is not yours" is what she says before Johnny in his wolf form, tackles her to the ground. "Well sometimes, that rule can be broken" Mark says with a smile. He uses his super strength to get out from his plantful captivity and catches the blueprints Johnny had thrown into the air. </p>
<p>With each strike thrown by Donghyuck, the water wolf moves to the side. The water wolf, eventually gets onto the offensive and throws a water stream from its mouth. Donghyuck defends by creating a shield with his bells, then trapping part of the stream with the shield as if he is catching a fish with a net, and throws the stream back at the wolf. The wolf gets thrown to the other side and against a tree, where Taeil calmly grabs the band of the wolf and tugs it off, making her dissolve into dark and light blue orbs. Mark and Johnny had also done the same to the fire vampire, and the plant mermaid, the mixture of green and orange lighting up the sky. The only one that was left, was the lightning fae, but since he is easy to handle, Taeil does simple strike to the head, and lets the lightning agent fall unconscious against the snow. "Alright guys, let's get out of here!" Johnny says, and starts to run in his wolf form, with Mark, Donghyuck, and Taeil following him, back to the car. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>There were 11 other spirits at the machine by the time Jeno, Chenle, Kun, and Yuta had arrived at the scene, and two of them already have fallen to the DokZuZhi side. </p>
<p>The agents that were present, about five of them, were caught off guard. Jeno and Yuta immeaditly turn into their wolf forms to fight the three agents coming at them, while Kun and Chenle work to free the spirits from their capsules. </p>
<p>A agent comes towards Jeno and tries to swing his bat at the wolf, but misses. He shoots a lighting bolt at him, again missing him by the tail. Jeno turns into his human form and catches the bat with his hands, the thorns stabbing his palms. "Why do the DokZuZhi like hiring dokkaebis so much" he groans, and pushes the bat off, making the agent lose his balance and fall against the snow. Jeno takes the neon yellow band around his neck and rips it off. He looks at his hands, thankful for his slow, but nonetheless great, healing powers working to fix up the yucky holes the thorns from the bat made.</p>
<p>"HYUNG WATCH OUT!" </p>
<p>Jeno stops looking at his hands, and turns around. A ice fairy was charging at him, almost hitting him in the gut with a ice strike. She moves with great gracefulness, like the prima ballerina in a performance of Swan Lake. Luckily before Jeno could get distracted (Dongsook is going to kill him if she finds out. Well not that they're dating..Yet), Chenle swiftly comes in and brings up walls from the ground, and traps the fairy in her own encasement. "Sorry! Your dance is very pretty though!" Chenle says, and lets Kun knock her out with a sleeping spell.</p>
<p>"Wait, where are the spirits" Kun says. Right on cue, a rock comes hurling between thing and hits the wall that held the sleeping fairy. Kun shoots the same sleeping spell towards the Earth spirit, hitting it and making it fall to the ground in a deep sleep. The other spirit, a lightning spirit, shoots lightning bolts at the magician, causing him and Chenle to separate. The lightning spirit starts to attack Kun, but gets distracted by rising walls manipulated by Chenle, blocking its path. Taking an advantage of its confusion, Kun runs around the walls and successfully spells the spirit to sleep, catching it before it hit the cold wet ground. "Chenle can you make a platform?" he asks. The leprechaun complies. Kun lays the lightning spirit on the rock. "Hopefully that'll keep it somewhat warm." </p>
<p>Yuta takes on the two other agents that were trying to turn a plant spirit into one of their own. The werewolf headbutts the agent that was forcing the spirit into the capsule, letting it free from his hands. The other agent, controlling the panel, panics at the sight, and traps Yuta's foot with raised rock. The werewolf curses in Japanese, and ducks from a punch from the agent he just tackled. The other agent behind him, traps Yuta's arms, then the other, forcing him to stand completely still. He takes a blow from the agent in front of him in the stomach, and is about to be knocked out by a water strike, if it wasn't for Jeno throwing another agent at the rock lady. </p>
<p>It distracts the water agent, who instead directs the strike towards Jeno. Chenle puts down Yuta's trap, and setting him free and letting him tackle the agent to the ground. "Uh Jeno?? What is it that thing you're supposed to do when you see one of those choker thingys??" he yells, straddling the agent under him. "Rip it off!" Jeno yells. Yuta complies, and the agent under him disperses into dark blue orbs. Jeno does the same to the two agents in front of him, letting a mixture of dark yellow and green orbs dance together into the sky. The wolves get up from the ground while Chenle and Kun walk up to the trapped spirits, who were all squished together in some sort of tank. "Could you guys uh..move to the side? Like away from the middle" Kun instructs. The spirits immeaditly move away from the center of the tank. Kun chuckles, and puts a finger towards the tank, and shoots a melting spell. A hole is created from the melted glass, and allows the spirits to fly out of the tank. "Now go enjoy your freedom while we break this thing" Yuta says. The spirits nod their heads like shaking bobble heads on a trucker's dashboard and fly away back home. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Renjun, Doyoung, Ten, and Jungwoo couldn't even take one step into the reserve before they are stopped by a bundle of agents. </p>
<p>There are a lot. The human guesses there's about 30 of them present in front of them. "You are not allowed here! This is DokZuZhi territory!" one of the agents shout. Ten laughs. Renjun gets startled when a pair of wings sprout from the older's back. Doyoung and Jungwoo don't react, probably already knowing that Ten was this winged creature. They were that of a eagle's or a falcon's wing. Strong, wide wing span, and a abundance of grey feathers. "Bring it on dorks, we don't got all night" Ten says which makes Jungwoo snicker. "Yeah! Let's go already!" he exclaims.  Doyoung rolls his eyes. He wishes he could trade these two for people who don't talk as much. </p>
<p>The fight begins with a crack of a plant whip against Ten's feet. The winged being scoffs in a offensive tone and takes flight into the air, making Renjun so mesmerized that he almost gets blown away by a wind vampire. "I'm the one you should be paying attention to" she says, and lifts Renjun into the air. "Woah! I got you!" Ten yells, and catches Renjun before he reaches to the ground. "Can you throw me at one of those trees over there?" Renjun asks, pointing at the forest. Ten raises an eyebrow at the word "throw", but shrugs his shoulders, hoping that the younger had some sort of plan. Ten throws the human towards a group of agents near the trees as requested. Renjun pops open his lovely purple bubble and manages to bulldoze all 5 of the agents to the ground.</p>
<p>Four of the agents had bands. Quickly before any of the other agents gets up, Renjun gets up from the ground and runs towards his first target. He grabs the yellow band around the agent's neck and pulls it off, her comrades watching in fright as they see the yellow orbs float to the sky. He grabs the band of the agent behind him. Blue orbs join the yellow ones, however before the human could get to the third agent, two agents had grabbed his arms and restrained him. "You kill off our allies, and we'll make sure you'll see them in Hell!" one of the agents exclaims. Renjun tries to wriggle out of their holds, but when there was no use, he stretched his hand over a patch of grass and grew them from the ground. The grass grabs a hold of the agents' ankles, scaring them into letting Renjun go. The human runs over to the agent left behind who defends himself by throwing rocks at Renjun. "No! Get away from me! Please!" the agent shouts. He stops Renjun by raising a wall in front of him. "Please don't kill me! I've only recently got my life back!" </p>
<p>"Then use it for something good!" Renjun yells back. He uses the grass to hold the agent still, not to pull his band off, but to restrict him. "If you got your life back, then you should be living it to the fullest. You only have this one chance, so use it well." The agent clenches his teeth and uses rock daggers to cut himself free. "I am using it well! I am using it to defeat goody too shoes like you!" he says, and pelts sharp rocks at the human. Renjun gasps and jumps to the side into the trees. The agent gets up and runs up to the human with four other of his comrades and raises a giant boulder from the ground. "Don't tell me what to do with my life, because I do as a please!" The agent throws the boulder at Renjun, then gets blown away from the powerful movements of Ten's wings as he lands on the ground. "I don't know, I'd listen to the kid if I were you" he says before ripping the band off of the earth agent's neck. Renjun on the other hand, was saved by the forest, well technically by a certain flower. The boulder was caught by a net of vines manipulated by the blue flower from earlier, who still sat in the park grounds, staring at the moon. When Renjun squinted at the little one he noticed a particular shine coming off of its petals. He smiles. "Who knew I was going to be saved by a Masked Spirit Bud." </p>
<p>On the other side, Doyoung and Jungwoo work together against 10 agents. A agent throws a punch towards Doyoung. The ghost teleports away from him and lets Jungwoo catch his fist. "Hi" the gumiho smiles, and throws the agent against four other agents. They all try to get up, but are dissolved into orbs when all of their bands are ripped off. "Woah you could do that?" Jungwoo exclaims. Doyoung appears out of thin air and smiles. "There's a lot of things ghosts can do, that even I can't seem to get a grip of knowing." </p>
<p>However despite being successful, the four men could not face the flood of agents. Sooner or later, they are surrounded by at least 50 of them. With their backs glued together, they ponder in their fighting stances, wondering how the agents were able to multiply so fast. "They're not reviving spirits as we fight right? That's the only way they keep coming" Renjun asks. Doyoung shakes his head. "If their reviving method is similar to ours, then their spirits should be revived at a much more slower rate then this." They anticipate for a attack when suddenly, a horn blares from the distance. Every agent turns their head towards the direction of where the horn is blared, and all simultaneously grin the famous Jo grin at the four. "See you at war" one of the agent says before all of them vanish. The team shares glances. Ten flies up to the air to see what was going on. He gasps. "There's a fire on Daebing Mountain!" he exclaims. "What!?" Renjun reacts. Doyoung digs through his pockets and tosses Jungwoo his keys. "Take the car with Renjun back to Daebing Mountain, Ten and I will go there first." Jungwoo nods, and gestures for Renjun to follow him. Doyoung teleports, while Ten begins soaring in the sky, towards the icy spiritual mountain.</p>
<p>The Masked Spirit Bud takes only one glance at them before staring back at the moon. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Jisung can feel the frost growing on his fingertips at the sight of Jo Ahrim. </p>
<p>He expected to fight a couple of agents yes, but he wasn't expecting to fight one of the twins! </p>
<p>Speaking of which, he scans the area for Jo Daeshim. </p>
<p>"Daeshim isn't here, things got hectic at HQ because of that stupid war your mom initiated" Jo Ahrim says. She crosses her arms and takes a seat on a boulder. "It's just me, no Daeshim, no agents." Ms. Choi takes out her sword and points it at the elemental human. Jo Ahrim scoffs. "Really? You don't trust me?" Ms. Choi grips the handle of her sword. "I may be against Park Sami's plan of war, but that doesn't mean that I am not against you and your organization." Jo Ahrim rolls her eyes. "Well yeah genius, why else would you be here to destroy our machines." As soon as she stands up from her boulder, Jaemin uses his super speed to charge at her, only for his fist to be caught by Jo Ahrim's hand. "Quit stalling! What are you doing here!" Jaemin exclaims. Jo Ahrim raises an eyebrow and pushes Jaemin away with great force, and against a wall. "Hyung!" Jisung calls out, and runs towards the vampire. "Don't try to play hero Nana" Jo Ahrim says. "Besides,-" A grin grows on her face. "-I've already stalled for the right amount of time." </p>
<p>A blast of gas destroys the wall Jaemin was leaning against, and sends the vampire and Jisung towards the trees. Jo Daeshim comes out from behind the rubble, and shoots a gas ball at them that is interfered by Taeyong's fire blast. It creates a small explosion, but that doesn't stop the two from fighting each other. Jo Daeshim sends out more gas balls while Taeyong blocks them off with fire strikes, the air making popping sounds as the fire makes contact with the gas. The revived fire spirit spins in a circle, creating a ring of fire around his body, and shoots it at Jo Daeshim, causing the other to jump to the side. For a moment Jo Daeshim is startled, but soon after, he laughs. "You fight very lightly, which is strange for fire spirits. All of ours just chuck fire balls at their opponents like a firing cannon" Taeyong shoots a fire ball, to which Jo Daeshim avoids. "Yeah, out of all the people here, I know that fact the most" he replies, and attacks with a fire strike. </p>
<p>With the swing of her sword, Ms. Choi cuts a rock in half when she misses Jo Ahrim. She moves swiftly like a piece of paper, as she moves much more lightly then a Fighter Grim Reaper would. Jo Ahrim responds to the attacks with gas balls, streams, and strikes. Ms. Choi, blocks them all with her sword. "You know, I've never fought with a Guardian Grim Reaper, they only fight when their protected is in danger" Jo Ahrim says. She dodges an magic attack shot by Ms. Choi's sword and throws a gas ball. Ms. Choi deflects it, the gas ball hitting a poor tree. "I've fought Fighter Grim Reapers many times, but not a Guardian one." She stops, for a second. "I wonder if there's a Healer Grim Reaper in your division, it's impossible to have none you know." Ms. Choi momentarily widens her eyes, then throws a sleeping spell towards the elemental human. Jo Ahrim jumps, and lands onto the ground like freshly fallen snow. "Ah" she says. "By the way you reacted, there is one, correct?" Ms. Choi swings her sword at the woman, cutting her sleeve. "There's no reason for you to know that. A grim reaper is a grim reaper. Don't get so picky." </p>
<p>By the time Jisung and Jaemin run back, Taeyong was blown back against the slide perched up on the park ground, and Ms. Choi is throw onto the ground. They run to protect their fellow teammates, Jaemin tackling Jo Daeshim before he could do anything. "What? No wolf form today?" Jo Daeshim says. "No, not now" Jaemin responds, and throws him against a tree. Jo Daeshim gets up, using the tree as support. He laughs. "Well, that isn't very fun is it Jaemin?" He throws a gas ball. Taeyong gets up and strikes it down towards the snow with a strike. "You'll have your fun later when there's no other people" he says to the other. </p>
<p>Jisung heard all of that, but he doesn't make a comment and instead focuses on not dying. As Jo Ahrim throws her gas balls, Jisung defends himself by creating ice shields. He makes no move to attack, since he can't find a chance to. After a while, Jo Ahrim strikes Jisung in the gut, making the fae fall to the ground. "You're the Healer huh?" Jo Ahrim says. Jisung catches his breath from the blow, his hands shaking and his body aching. "Healer's aren't the ones to usually fight. Now I'm glad to say I've fought all three types of Grim Reapers!" A stream of smoke blows from Jo Ahrim's hands. Jisung gasps, and rolls out from Jo Ahrim's sight. The woman shoots another gas ball, but it hits the blade of Ms. Choi's sword instead of the fae reaper. "Like I said, it doesn't matter who you fight, cause we're all the same!" She throws her sword onto the ground, causing it the run through the snow and shoot Jo Ahrim into the sky. Jo Daeshim spots her and gasps. "Ahrim!" he exclaims, before disappearing. </p>
<p>The environment was silent, with the occasional heavy breaths taken by the team. "Are we done yet?" Jisung says. Ms. Choi looks up from the ground. "Not yet!" she exclaims. She stops a attack with her sword. Her eyes widen at the sights of the twins holding hands, their eyes as dark as their magic. Their blasts overpowers Ms. Choi's sword and pushes her away from the area, and right into the playground. </p>
<p>"MS. CHOI!" Jisung yells. He runs to check if she is ok while Jaemin and Taeyong work together against the twins. "Ready for a rematch hyung?" Jaemin says. Taeyong shakes his head. "No!" A black gas ball hits the floor right in front of them, dissolving not only the snow, but the soil and the plants it touched. "Well we got no choice" Jaemin says. They run when another gas ball comes towards them. "I can't use my elemental Jaemin! It's gonna make the whole place explode!" Taeyong yells. He pulls Jaemin to the side when a smoke stream comes towards them. "We just need to separate them, and we'll leave, we can't handle them with only us four" the fire spirit says further. Jaemin nods, though the thought of separating the twins is already hard enough without the usage of a elemental. </p>
<p>"Ms. Choi! Ms. Choi!" Jisung shakes his head. Ms. Choi wasn't opening her eyes. "No, no, no, please wake up! Please!" He shakes her some more. The fae leans down and listens for some heart beats. He breathes a sigh of relief when he hears Ms. Choi's heart still going strong. He becomes more relieved, when Ms.Choi coughs. "Ms. Choi!" Jisung exclaims. "Jisung.." the woman says. She slowly reaches for the fae's hand, who immeaditly gives it to her. "I can't fight, it'll take my spiritual energy. Go fight with the others while I heal myself, I will be fine." Jisung squeezes her hand. "Please go, I am fine. I am far away from the fight, so I will be able to heal easily." That is true, Jaemin and Taeyong took the fight into a forest in the side instead of the playground. Jisung nods. "Ok" he says, before getting up. He starts to run after Jaemin and Taeyong, before catching a glint of something white pass his eye. He turns, and panics when he sees Yewon, flying towards him with the wind spirit, and the fire spirit chasing after her. "Oh no" he mumbles. </p>
<p>To stop the spirits, Jisung runs up to them. Yewon looks happy to have found him, but her color immeaditly pales when she sees the disappointed look on Jisung's face. "What are you doing!? I thought I said to stay in the manor!" He silently scolds. He looks at the wind and fire spirit. "Why didn't you stop her?" The wind and fire spirit sinks down as well. God Jisung feels like a parent right now. So this is how Jaemin and Jeno feels when they're scolding him. A crash causes Jisung to turn around. Taeyong was thrown against a tree, and had fallen limp. Jaemin stood alone. Jisung looks at the fight, then at the machine right next to him. "Ok, you guys wanna help?" Yewon and the fire spirit nod their heads while the wind spirits shakes its head furiously. "I know your pain but you kinda have no choice" Jisung tells the wind spirit. </p>
<p>I mean Hyuckjin did have a choice, but Yewon fucking chucked it out of the window the moment she flew out of that house. </p>
<p>The twins didn't give time for Jisung to explain his plan whe a familiar light brown wolf is thrown against a tree in front of them. He furrows his eyebrows at the strange wolf, the very wolf that keeps appearing out of nowhere. Then, his eyebrows shoot up when the wolf turns into Jaemin. Jisung steps back, trembling. "Hyung...was a werewolf this whole time?!" </p>
<p>He didn't have time to ponder. Jisung looks up and panics when he sees a smoke stream coming directly towards him and the spirits. The spirits move out of the way while Jisung runs to the other side, pushing Ms. Choi away from the playground equipment with a ice blast. He winces when she falls off of the platform and hits a tree. "Jisung we're working on your control after this" he hears her groan. "Noted" he says back. The fae whips his head towards the hum of the twin's power as they float towards him. The charge a gas ball, a large one that is so dark, it is almost black. Jisung runs off of the park grounds, the twins following him, and gather as much snow as he possibly can. He freezes them into ice crystals, then anticipates for the release of the gas ball. The twins raise their arms to throw the gargantuan gas ball at the fae, and launch it. Jisung quickly puts the ice crystals together and form a stream of pure icy vapor. It acts as a geyser that's holding a boulder above its hole so it won't get plugged. The twins, though in a different mindset, actually get surprised. So surprised, that the wind spirit manages to separate them, by blowing them away from each other and against the trees. Jisung then launches the gas ball into the forest, Yewon shooting through the ball, and the fire spirit shooting flames at it, making mini explosions in the air. "Great job guys" Jisung says coming up to the spirits. "Now help me destroy that machine." </p>
<p>"How the hell were you able to do that?" </p>
<p>Jisung whips his head. The twins were already up on their feet, but their hands were not together. The fae puts up his defense anyways, his hands being covered in frost and a ice blast ready to leave his hands. The spirits get ready too, them and Jisung shielding Jaemin, Taeyong, and Ms. Choi as they're healing. "I thought you were a healer, healers usually aren't able to create something as powerful as ice vapor" Jo Daeshim says. He's right, they aren't. Jisung just happened to know that trick because of Kun's classes. He learned much more in his professor's class then he had from the tutors his mom made him be with. "It doesn't matter, why would you care?" Jisung says. "Because we're genuinely fascinated. Look kid, we don't really want to do this either, so let us take those spirits and revive them" Jo Ahrim says. She and her brother gets startled by the white flashing in Jisung's pupils. "No! Why would I do that? If you don't want to fight, why would you even bother hurting these spirits? The people on this mountain!? Everyone!" Jisung isn't the most logical person on this Earth, but what came out from Jo Ahrim's mouth was the most illogical thing he has ever heard. </p>
<p>"Cause we don't want to die, now hand them over" Jo Daeshim says. Jisung and the spirits back up. "No! Why would YOU die!? You're not the ones that are being forced to work for a organization!" he shouts. Jo Daeshim grits his teeth, his sister putting her hand on his arm to calm him down. "Because, if we DON'T get those spirits and we DON'T win this stupid ass war, we're going to ruin the Jo Family Name and get killed!" Jo Daeshim throws a gas ball at the fae. He blocks it with a ice blast, and charges up another. "Huang Renjun may have converted our dad  before he went to prison, but you can't do that with us" Jo Ahrim says with a glare. "So if you're thinking of changing us, don't." Jo Ahrim throws a gas ball of her own. Jisung backs up and shoots it down with a ice blast. "We don't have a choice" she says quietly after. </p>
<p>From behind, Jaemin groans as he starts to get his energy back. He stares at the fight in front of him, vision blurry from the impact, and waits for his body to adjust. "Look-" Jisung starts. His arms were getting tired from being held up for such a long time. "-I was forced to do something I don't want to do as well. For most of my life actually." The Jo twins raise their eyebrows at the same time. "You guys are right, I'm not built for fighting, yet despite that my mom had forced me to take lessons from tutors after tutors to control my elemental. I couldn't even use it because I was so afraid of it, so I had to use potions in my final fighting exam!" Jisung lowers his arms, but the spirits behind him still keep their guard up. "My mom wanted me to blow myself similarly to what happened yesterday" he confesses. "She wanted me to die cause in her mind, I could be a useful child if I did." The expressions on the twin's faces soften. They share sad glances with each other, then look back at Jisung and kept listening. </p>
<p>"I had the courage to go against that because I had the support of my friends, hyungs, and Ms. Choi. I'm sure you guys have that same support too don't you?" Jo Ahrim shakes her head. "The only support we had is gone" she says quietly. "So even if we wanted to against our orders, we can't." Jo Daeshim sighs and massages the bridge of his nose. "Park Jisung, we may be in the same situation as you, but they are both at different extremities." He puts his hands on his hips, while Jo Ahrim looks down, playing with the snow with her feet. "We cannot tell you much, but please understand, that not everyone has that one person to help them in their lives." Jo Ahrim stops playing with the snow with her feet. She looks up and looks at Jo Daeshim. Jo Daeshim looks at her back. They share some sort of silent conversation for a moment, Jisung furrows his eyebrows. What are they planning now? To go quit the DokZuZhi? To kill Jisung right then and there after he just poured his vulnerabilities in front of them like nothing? The twins nod at each other after they finish their conversation, then turn back to Jisung. At this moment, the rest of the team were slowly getting up from the ground and were all walking over to join Jisung and the spirits. Ms. Choi brings out her sword and points it at the twins. Taeyong charges up his fire balls, and Jaemin gets into his fighting stance. The twins share another glance, then look at Jisung, then Jaemin. </p>
<p>Then, they spring into action. </p>
<p>Jo Ahrim encases Yewon into a bubble and brings it over to the machine while Jo Daeshim blows everyone back against the trees. The wind spirit and the fire spirit go after Jo Ahrim, but they also get encased in their mini shields and are thrown back into the forest. "No!" Jisung yells. He gets up and manipulates the snow to scurry through the ground and grab Jo Ahrim by the ankle. She yelps as she falls and drops the bubble Yewon is in. Jo Daeshim grabs it, and throws it into the capsule of the machine. Jaemin widens his eyes. "DAESHIM HYUNG DON'T DO IT! SHE'S ONLY 12 YEARS OLD!!" he shouts. Jo Daeshim looks back at the vampire, and the rest of the group. Jisung gets surprised by the amount of regret and guilt that were in the elemental human's pupils. "Come on!" Taeyong says, and the rest of the team gets up. They all run towards the park grounds, but get distracted by Jo Ahrim's smoke streams coming towards them. Jaemin uses his agility to go around them, Ms. Choi uses her sword to cut through them as if she was walking in a thick jungle. Taeyong turns into his spirit form to doge easily, and Jisung creates a ice shield and pushes through. He catches up to Jo Ahrim and tries to stop Jo Daeshim with a ice blast, but it was already too late. Jo Daeshim had already pressed the button. The capsule starts to fill with clouds of poisonous gas. Jisung starts to tremble as Yewon takes one last look out the glass before the dark purple clouds cover her entirely. When the process is done, the doors of the capsule open. Seconds of tranquility pass by before a large ice blast shoots out and hits Jisung hard enough in the chest to push him back. He groans then watches in horror as a large ice spirit with and aggressive spiky exterior comes out. Jisung shakes his head. "No" he whispers. "What did you do?" That ice spirit isn't Yewon. No, that ice spirit, is every DokZuZhi spirit Jisung and his friends have ever faced. </p>
<p>Jo Ahrim blows a whistle to get the ice spirit's attention, then a large horn. The twins take their ascent, with the ice spirit following them. They take one last sad look at the team below them. "We're sorry Park Jisung, Na Jaemin" Jo Daeshim says. "But this is the only way, for all of us to be free" Jo Ahrim finishes. Jaemin widens his eyes, and gets up, to run after the twins. A tear leaves Jo Ahrim's eye before she, her brother, and the ice spirit disappear, to never to be seen again. Jaemin falls on the steps, Taeyong runs to help him up, but the vampire refuses. "They're gone hyung, and took a spirit with them" he whispers. Jisung sits back against the tree, his chest heaving up and down. He looks to his side and spots two black bubbles sitting on the forest floor. He gets up to go get them, but Ms. Choi reaches them first. She pops them, the wind and fire spirit immeaditly flying out. They get ready to fight, but relax when they didn't see the twins or their young friend. "She's gone guys" Jisung mutters. The spirits turn their heads. "She's gone" the fae repeats. The wind spirits sinks down to the ground and the fire spirit pales in color. It turns silent for a minute. Ms. Choi breaks it, by telling the team that they have to leave. "There's trouble on Daebing Mountain" she speaks in a solemn tone. She puts her sword away and sighs.</p>
<p>"I believe, it's time for war." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Before everyone could go up Daebing Mountain, Yoonoh had first called them all together at the base. </p>
<p>"Park Sami is out of control. We're going to need a plan before we fight both the DokZuZhi and the Grim Reapers" he tells the group. They were all standing at the bottom of the road leading up to the spiritual mountain. "The pets are safe in Jisung's room with food and water by the way, just felt like we needed to address that" Gunhang says. Renjun smiles and nods his head. "Thank you gege." He's glad that the pets are safe, but he knew that if they needed to fend themselves, they can do it in the heartbeat. </p>
<p>"We need to alert the Neo City Police, and set up a transportation system for all of the spirits Park Sami forces into war" Taeil says. "I need one third of us to go back to Neo City for more backup and supplies, another to help me set up the system, and the other to stay back and fight." He shares glances with Ms. Choi and Yoonoh. They all nod, then turn to the rest of the group. "Alright" Ms. Choi says. "We need 7 people to go back to Neo City, 7 people to set up the system, and 8 people to stay back." She takes out her sword and starts to draw out lines in the snow, a blue light following the blade as it moves. "I need those going to Neo City behind this line. Who volunteers to go?" </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Renjun feels like its been forever since he's been in Neo City. He gets comforted by the familiar sight of Cherry Park, and the lights and busy sounds of District 127 as Yoonoh drives through the usual busy traffic. </p>
<p>First Yoonoh drops Renjun and Mark at their dorms. "Met us at the station once you get your stuff" Yoonoh instructs. Renjun and Mark nod their heads, then quickly head over to their rooms.</p>
<p>When Renjun opens the door to his dorm, he immeaditly wants to crash onto his bed. But he pushes down that want and heads straight to the bathroom between his and Jaemin's room and grabs the first aid kit. He goes into his room and grabs more potions. After getting his stuff, Renjun runs over to Donghyuck's and Jeno's room to grab their first aid kit, along with Jeno's health medicine for faster healing. Once he got everything he got, Renjun closes the door and runs back to the elevators and down to the lobby. Mark in the meanwhile, grabs his first aid kit as well, along with extra medical supplies he took from the hospital. "Chenle and Jisung shouldn't need anything right?" he asks himself. Jisung has his bombs and Chenle only needs the Earth around him. He nods to himself. "I've got everything." </p>
<p>The pair meets at the student parking lot, and throw everything into the trunk of Mark's car. The vampire starts it up once Renjun climbs in, and drives out, probably breaking every speed limit possible, to the polices station. "Do we need to stop by the hospital for anything for the spirits?" Mark asks. Renjun shakes his head. There's not much they can do for a spirit when it is hurt except for growing a whole ass farm of Moon Cherry Blossoms, which is hard enough to do. They are going to unfortunately, let a spirit go when it dissolves. </p>
<p>Renjun's stomach churns at the thought of a innocent spirit dissolving. </p>
<p>By the time Renjun and Mark get to the police station, a bunch of police cars and vans have started to leave the parking lot. The sirens on the top of their cars were blaring, and were spinning blue light. Mark stops the car in front of the doors of the station and lets Yukhei put in more supplies that were kept in the police station. Then, the wolf, Gunhang, and Dejun all pile into the car. "Wait!" Yukehi exclaims before Mark starts to drive. He takes out a siren from a duffel bag and opens the window. He goes out and places the siren on top of Mark's van, then goes back into the car and closes the window. "Are you allowed to do that?" Renjun asks. Yukhei shrugs with a small smile on his face. "Eh, technically this is police business so Yoonoh hyung technically can't get mad at me." </p>
<p>Thanks to the siren, Mark was able to weave through the traffic with ease. In no time, the car was already on the road back to Sul Mountains. "Yoonoh hyung and Taeyong hyung have already led the police cars to the base of Sul Mountains. All we need to do, is meet them there, then go up to Daebing Mountain to join the fight" Yukhei reports. "Got it" Mark says, and takes a turn. He sees the flashing blue lights at the bottom of the mountains, and picks up speed. When they arrive, the vampire pops open the trunk and lets the officers unload the supplies. Renjun gets out of the car to help the officers, and spots Mr. Park rangling all of the citizens of Sul Mountains to stay at their homes. "There is a war!" he shouts through a megaphone. "Stay in your homes to avoid getting hurt!" Then, the assemblyman surprises the human by sending his police force to go help Yoonoh's. "Uncle Binghoon is against the war too" Yoonoh suddenly says. "Don't be surprised by a it though, he doesn't like his wife. The two are in a arranged marriage." </p>
<p>Ah</p>
<p>Well Renjun's glad that a literal assemblyman is on their side. Mr. Park was silent on the whole issue the entire time, so it makes him relived to see that he's helping out the Revivers, instead of the Grim reapers. "The supplies have been taken by the transport team Detective Jung" an officer tells Yoonoh. The Grim Reaper nods. Renjun looks over to the transportation team taking up the supplies the mountain in a car. With a foot in the car, Jaemin spares a glance towards the human. "Be careful" the glance tells him. Renjun nods and smiles. "You too." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>There are three vans for each elemental and each are able to carry at least 50 spirits. The plan is to direct any of the Grim Reaper spirits (and some DokZuZhi spirits if they're lucky) into their respective van, and take them to the hospital where Mr. Kim, Gayoon, and Harim are. </p>
<p>"Ok, ok, thank you Mr. Kim." Doyoung hangs up his phone and stuffs it into his pocket. "Mr. Kim had contacted with the Seoul Grim Reaper Division, and they've accepted the request to take the spirits in." Sungchan tilts his head. "Won't a bunch of white vans driving in and out of windows be a little suspicious to the humans?" Taeil shrugs. "It will be, but we can't keep all of them in the hospital. The medical board only gave enough funding for one little spirit lab." Doyoung replies. Sungchan frowns. "Well that's not fair." Doyoung sighs. It really isn't, but he doesn't have time to complain about that right now. </p>
<p>The three turn their heads when they hear cars driving up the mountains. They run to help Taeyong and the others with the medical supplies and equipment for the vans. "Are you ok? You're not cold?" Doyoung asks taking a box of first aid kits from him. Taeyong shakes his head and pecks Doyoung on the cheek. "I'm fine, Renjun gave me a bunch of hot packs to use for today" he laughs. Jaemin gives a box to Taeil after climbing out of the car, and frowns at the vans. They seemed smaller then from what he imagined. "Those will be able to fit the spirits right?" Jisung comments. He also was a bit concerned about the sizes of the vans. "As long as we cover the interior with a shit ton of talismans, the spirits are gonna be fine" Jungwoo says. He gives a smile to the two. "Have hope guys, we're going to end this war for good."  </p>
<p>The transport team immeaditly gets to work. Those without elemental powers began putting up barriers to keep any fire, ice, or water from getting out. There is a hole in each barrier, with a way for spirits to get in and for a way for the driver to check on them and keep them company by speaking to them. </p>
<p>After putting the barrier up, Jaemin hears a car driving pass by and up to Daebing Mountain. He sees the police van, and assumes its Renjun and the other Neo City team that's going to fight. "He's going to be fine." Jaemin turns around. Doyoung puts a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about him. You guys just got back together, no one's gonna let you separate again." Jaemin nods, and looks back at the van. Flashes of recent nightmares go through his mind, causing him to frown a bit. "Jaem?" Doyoung calls out. The hybrid shakes his head and looks at the ghost. "I'm fine. He's going to succeed, we all are." A look of concern goes over Doyoung's face before getting replaced with a hopeful smile. "Indeed we are." </p>
<p>After slapping a bunch of talismans onto the walls of the vans and constant spraying of fire and ice, the vans became ready for any spirits, and just in time too. The first spirit is delivered to the vans, though not by a being. The team gets confused by the sudden sprouting of a blue flower with small petals after it dug through the ground. It looks at the beings in front of it, then releases a spirit from it's center, a wind spirit. Jaemin catches it, and looks at the flower with confusion. "Are you here to help?" he asks. The flower nods, but before he could ask anymore questions, it digs back to where it came from. The hybrid and Doyoung shares glances. They assume that Renjun asked for some help, and put the wind spirit into the first van. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>It's a lie to say that it's easy to fight two groups of fucking people. </p>
<p>Usually, Jeno doesn't really care that much, he doesn't mind. But after the like, 9th agent he has thrown, the wolf is feeling pretty tired. "Oh my god I just want to cuddle with Geran!" he complains out loud. He punches a agent in the face and groans. "I hate this war."</p>
<p>To shut him up is a water ball pushing him against the broken fence. Jeno groans while holding his stomach. When he looks up, the water spirit that had attacked him, stops in its tracks and stares at the wolf for a while. By the look of the spirit and how it acts, Jeno can tell this isn't a DokZuZhi spirit. To further confirm his speculation, the spirit tilts its head, confused. Jeno tilts his back, and waves a hi, the spirit returning the greeting. "I bet you're as tired as I am right now" Jeno says getting up. The water spirit nods its head. "If you don't want to fight, then head over to the base of this mountain to get transported to District 127, or-" Jeno cracks his neck and puts his hands on his hips. "You can help us get other hurt spirits to our system." The water spirit glows a bright blue and senses something from a far. Jeno looks to see what it is and sees a ice spirit fallen onto the ground. The wolf is about to retrieve it, but the water spirit had beaten him to it, and had came back to him with the ice spirit in a water bowl. "Glad to have you on our team" Jeno smiles. The water spirit nods and bows, then flies off to where the other injured spirits are being transported to. </p>
<p>On the other side of the field, Donghyuck and Chenle work together to defend a hurt plant spirit. Surrounded by agents, Donghyuck surrounds himself, Chenle, and the spirit in a ring of bells. The ring then spins at a fast rate, spouting water at the agents and throwing them away from the three. "Delivery boy is here!" Chenle yells. Donghyuck turns around and smiles when he sees Hyo flying in with a basket in his mouth. Chenle drops the plant spirit into the basket, and pets him on the head. "Good bird!" he says, and lets the bird fly off of his arm to the bottom of the mountain. They watch him for a while before Chenle gets clocked in the face. It startles Donghyuck to turn around and immeaditly enter a fight with a Grim Reaper. "What are you people doing? You're supposed to be on our side!" the grim reaper says. He blasts something from his sword, to which Donghyuck blocks with a bell shield. "No, we're supposed to enjoy our time in this reunion without having to fight at all!" </p>
<p>From behind, Yuta and Johnny runs over to help Chenle up. Johnny winces at the big bruise sitting on Chenle's face. "I'm fine hyung, thank you" the younger says. He and the wolves look at Donghyuck fighting with the grim reaper and sees another coming after the merman. Chenle attempts to run over to help his hyung, but a certain winged fellow swoops in and picks him up from the ground. "Don't touch our actor you bug of death!" Ten exclaims before throwing the grim reaper against a group of agents who were fighting Shotaro and Jeno. "Thank you hyung!" Jeno exclaims. Ten throws a thumbs up, Shotaro and Jeno throw one back. </p>
<p>A car at this time arrives at the top of the mountain. "Oh god it's a mess up here" Gunhang says. "And look how long we've been fighting" Yukhei adds on. Renjun looks at the sunrise the wolf was pointing at. Not gonna lie, it was very pretty. "Conserve your energy when fighting. You are not only here to kick a couple of asses, but you are also here to help transport spirits" Yoonoh directs. He unlocks the door, and grabs the handle to the own next to him. "Come to the medical station if you are hurt and be safe!" he says, before everyone piles out the car.</p>
<p>Right as Renjun steps out, a fire spirit had fallen right in front of him in the snow. He quickly picks up the fire spirit and encases it in a shield. The wind spirit Jisung has been taking care of, comes in to pick it up, but Renjun shakes his head. "It's a fire spirit, and it looked like it was in critical condition." The wind spirit looks at the purple sphere in Renjun's hand then at the human himself and nods. The spirit looks in the sky for any fire spirits, and spots the one Jisung had healed. It sends a signal of wind towards it, causing the fire spirit to stop in its tracks and turn. Renjun holds up the shield and waves it around, the fire spirit immeaditly coming to aid. When it arrives, it creates a fire net for Renjun to set the spirit on. The human breaks the shield open, and lets the injured fire spirit slide out and onto the net. "Thank you" Renjun says. The fire spirit nods, and takes its injured brethren to the system. </p>
<p>Renjun watches the fire spirit flies off, and shares a glance with the wind spirit. He looks at the onslaught of people in front of them and the horror of orbs floating to the sky. "It's hard out here huh" he asks the wind spirit. The spirit nods in response. Without looking at the spirit, Renjun sighs and furrows his eyebrows. "It's hard, but it'll be all over soon." </p>
<p>"Let's go." </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"There's no way that he's going to be in his fucking room Hojoon." </p>
<p>"Who knows? The kid is all nervous and antsy, he's probably hiding with his stupid bird right now!" </p>
<p>Pangxie perks up and looks towards the door. It sounds like someone is coming. </p>
<p>"Yeah, but he's more likely to have ran away to Neo City with his puny friends" the voice says. Both of them stop in front of the door. "Hey, but let's give it a shot, at the very least if we don't find him, we can find out if we went to Neo City or not." </p>
<p>Yup, definitely there's two people out there. Pangxie gives a glance to Geran and Robert. Both of them were staring at the door. Lemon was the only one did not seem to mind, still wiggling as if her life depended on it (it scares the little red crab sometimes). </p>
<p>As the two people continue to argue outside, Hyo had came to the window for a basket switch. Robert quacks at the owl and points a winged finger at the door. Hyo looks at the duck, then the door. He narrows his eyes. "Fine, let's go in then" the voice says. The door knob turns and opens the door to two grim reapers. Hyo extends his neck from the window, and stares at the two grim reapers with big eyes, scaring them promptly. One of the grim reapers tuts. "You don't scare me you stupid owl, get out of the way!" He pushes Hyo's face out of the way and barges into the room. The grim reapers look around the room, confused at the animals staring at them. Hyo shrinks his neck to its original size, and keeps staring at the grim reapers. "See I told you he wouldn't be here" one of them says. The other one, the ever so persistent, ignores his comrade and brings out a sword. He points it at Hyo, the blade reflecting the sun's rising pink and orange colors. "Tell me where Park Jisung is you creepy ass bird brain, it's an order from your commander Park Sami!" </p>
<p>Hyo does nothing but gives a unamused look towards the grim reapers. He shakes his head, and grabs a basket with a ice talisman stuck to it before flying out the window. "Hey! Where are you going!" the grim reaper with the sword exclaims. "I said!- OW!" </p>
<p>Ah yes, the satisfaction of pinching someone delights Pangxie greatly. It's been a while since the crab had pinched someone. The grim reaper Pangxie pinched looks down, and the crab looks up. The grim reaper's partner snorts out a laugh before screaming. Robert had flown up to her face and began pecking at her. "Stop doing that you stupid duck!" the other grim reaper yells. Pangxie pinches him at the feet again, making him yelp, and dropping his sword. Geran takes this chance to jump onto his face, scratching it like there's no tomorrow. </p>
<p>"GET. OFF. ME!!" The grim reaper throws the cat off of his face, Geran yowling as she flies across the room and onto the bed. Pangxie pinches the grim reaper's ankle this time, causing him to scream in agony and hop on one foot while holding his ankle until he bumps into Jisung's desk. His comrade in the meanwhile gets Robert off of her face, but gets pinched immediately by Pangxie in the same area. "HOJOON LET'S GO, THESE ANIMALS ARE FUCKING NUTS!!" The other grim reaper opens his mouth to respond, but gets pecked by Robert repeatedly before falling on the floor in front of Lemon. They stare at each other for a while before Lemon slaps the grim reaper in the face with her nice leaf. "Ok! Ok! We get it! We surrender! Let's go Yeonhwa!" Hojoon yells and runs off with Yeonhwa out of the room and slamming the door shut.</p>
<p>The pets watch Lemon wiggle a wiggle victory dance to celebrate right after. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>"There, now it's all nice and frosty" Jisung says. He looks at the ice spirits sitting at the back of the van. All of them were huddled together, attempting to heal. Unlike all of the other elemental spirits who were flying around in the back of the vans or playing together, the ice spirits seemed to just sit in there. Makes sense, considering that a person who is cool as ice is usually calmer then a person who is as hot as fire. </p>
<p>Though to be honest, Jisung finds Yewon to be less calm then Taeyong, but he just assumes it's a age thing. </p>
<p>He sighs. The fae was thinking about Yewon the whole time. Wondering if she was ok, wondering if she remembered him, his friends, Taeil, or the wind and fire spirit. He hopes that the spirit is under a sleeping spell and not hurt, resting on the snow peacefully instead of turning into orbs.</p>
<p>The last thing he wants is for the young spirit to turn into orbs. </p>
<p>Something cold nudges Jisung's hand. The fae looks down and sees one of the ice spirits looking at him. He had his hands resting on the surface of the van, to which one of the ice spirits had covered some of it in frost to comfort him. It wasn't numbing like the frost that appears whenever the fae was anxious or felt like he was about to explode, but more warm, and like a hug. Jisung smiles at the ice spirit. "Thank you for comforting me" he says. As he pets the ice spirit's head, he hears Hyo's flapping wings coming towards him. "Hyo?" The fae lends a arm for the owl to perch on as he arrives. "What are you doing here? I thought you were out on the mountain" Jisung says. Hyo stares at the fae with big eyes, passing on the information he had just received to the fae. Jisung raises his eyebrows when he gets the message. "They're looking for me?! Why are they looking for me!?" </p>
<p>"JISUNG WATCH OUT!" </p>
<p>An arrow zooms through the sky and towards Jisung and his owl. Hyo turns his head and stops the arrow, and redirects it to its shooter. Jisung and all of the revivers and police officers stare at the crowd of grim reapers in the sky, all of them holding bow and arrows and swords in their hands. "Park Jisung! As an order from your mother Park Sami, you must come with us!" one of the grim reapers say. Jisung furrows his eyebrows. "Like that would ever happen!" he shouts back. He doesn't know why, but the fae feels a surge of confidence going through his mind. It could either last for a couple a minutes or a couple of hours, who knows, so that's why he feels the need to milk it all right now. </p>
<p>"If you do not come with us, we shall fight you until you succumb to our forces!" the grim reaper shouts. "We'll take that option!" Jungwoo shouts from his van, and starts the engine. "Help the hyungs with the transportation" Jisung tells Hyo. The bird nods and flies off ahead to catch up with Jungwoo's van. "Hold on guys! It's going to be a bumpy ride!" Jisung says to the ice spirits. He freezes the back some more before closing the doors, and taps on them to give a OK to Kun to drive off. All of the vans start to leave the base with some of the grim reapers start to following them. Jaemin, Sungchan, Taeyong and Doyoung stay back to help Jisung fend off the grim reapers, all start to come down from the sky and from the path that led up to the summit of Daebing Mountain.</p>
<p>On the ground, Jisung pushes the snow to knock down the grim reapers, and blocks an arrow from a grim reaper with a ice wall. Jaemin uses his hand to hand combat to deweaponize the grim reapers. He avoids the swing of one blade, and the arrow shot from a bow. He turns into his bat form for better avoidance, and drop kicks a grim reaper in the face. Taeyong uses his fire balls and blasts. He creates a ring of fire around himself and pushes it out, the force pushing the grim reapers around him to the ground. Sungchan uses his elemental to manipulate the rocks around him, throwing them at each grim reaper, and trapping them in cones of rock. "How could you do this to the very people who helped you get better!" one of the grim reaper shouts from their rock cone. Sungchan shrugs. "Technically, all you did was yell at me until I was able to lift a pebble" he responds, before raising a rock wall to stop three incoming grim reapers. Doyoung snorts when he hears that and teleports away when a grim reaper attempts to shoot him with a arrow. "Come out you spirit!" the grim reaper shouts. "You are a ghost! You cannot possibly think that you can win against us grim reapers!" He walks around a bit more before strange sensation goes through his body. Suddenly, the grim reaper looses control of his limbs and drops his bow and arrow. His comrades look at him oddly and tell him to keep fighting, but he cannot. Then, out comes Doyoung who punches him in the face and lets him fall onto the cold snow. "If you guys are so high and mighty, then try to keep up with me" he smiles. </p>
<p>Jisung and Jaemin work together to fend off the grim reapers. The fae wonders why Jaemin doesn't use his wolf form to fight and tries to ask the older before almost getting shot in the face by an arrow. Jisung takes his attention off of his hyung and freezes the grim reaper to the ground. Usually, Jisung is unable to freeze someone and keep them there without fainting, but thanks to the snow, the fae was able to take advantage of it and create a strong grip for the grim reaper to stand still. "Jisung a ramp!" Jaemin yells. Jisung turns and immeaditly shoots up a ice ramp. Jaemin uses his super speed to run on and off it and take down several reapers at once. He takes the sword of one of them and fights another. "Say you are a good swordsman" the grim reaper says. He looses control of the weapon when Jaemin forces it into the snowy ground. He points it at the reaper. "Well yes, and I'm sure you know why" he says, before dropping the blade and slugging the reaper in the face. </p>
<p>The fight continues on until Jisung notices the area around him getting darker and darker. It was the beginning of the day, it still shouldn't be this dark. He turns around, and stumbles back when he sees a large black wall covering the sun from the distance on the summit of Daebing Mountain. "It's the DokZuZhi's poison spirits!" one of the grim reapers shouts. "Quickly! Grab Park Jisung and let's move!" another calls out. Jisung didn't mind about their words, he was more worried on whether or not everyone on that mountain is ok. Ms. Choi, Chenle, Renjun, Jeno, Donghyuck, Mark. His cousin Yoonoh, Yuta, Johnny, and everyone else who was fighting up there. </p>
<p>"No, no" Jisung whispers. He shakes his head. "No, we, we have to get up there! We-" A hand grabbing his arms interrupts his words. Abruptly, a bunch of grim reapers began to gather around Jisung, trying to grab his appendages to move along with them. "No! Get your hands off of him!" Jaemin cries out. Doyoung, Taeyong, and Sungchan get up to run with Jaemin to free Jisung, but they get stopped by other grim reapers. Jaemin doesn't mind, and just keeps running. In the inside of the pile, Jisung doesn't move. His feet are literally frozen to the ground. "Jisung!" Jaemin calls out from the outside. "Hyung! We need to help out the others!" He can't lose anyone else, no, especially not to the DokZuZhi. "I know, but let's get you out first bud" Jaemin says, attempting to pull out each grim reaper out. Jisung looks at the people trying to grab him. "What are you doing!? Why aren't you on that mountain!? Go and help the others against that wall!" </p>
<p>"We were ordered to get you! You are our first priority Young Master Park!" one of the grim reapers responds. Frost begins to grow on Jisung's fingertips.</p>
<p>"Why the fuck would I be your first priority!? You are a grim reaper! Your job is to act as a guide for all humans and beings alike, your job is to protect them from any kinds of harm!" </p>
<p>"Because we have received an order from Park Sami! We were ordered to follow it, or else we face the consequences!" </p>
<p>A flash of white goes through Jisung's pupils. "You're saying that your chance of not getting punished is more important then the lives of other people!?" </p>
<p>"It is our duty to follow our orders!" </p>
<p>"IT IS YOUR DUTY TO GIVE ASSISTANCE TO OTHER BEINGS!!" </p>
<p>Jisung can feel his elemental coursing through his veins. He can feel the frost on his fingertips growing more numb, more cold, more powerful. His pupils turn white. He feels like he's going to explode.</p>
<p>"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT THE ELEMENTAL SPIRITS BUT YOU DIDN'T! BECAUSE OF YOU PEOPLE, THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG, THE SPIRITS AND BEINGS THAT WERE INNOCENT, HAVE TO SUFFER BECAUSE OF YOUR DECISIONS AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!" </p>
<p>Jaemin stops prying the grim reapers off of Jisung and steps back. "Hyungs! Sungchan! Run and look for cover!" he says. The aforementioned three stop fighting and look at the white glowing center coming from the pile. Sungchan kicks someone off of him and creates a box from the ground. Jaemin slides in, along with Taeyong and Doyoung. They all worriedly watch Jisung slowly charge himself up. The fae's hands were icy white, and his eyes were glowing white.</p>
<p>"IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GO AND HELP,  THEN GET. THE FUCK. OFF OF ME!!" </p>
<p>A explosion from the bottom of the mountain silences everyone. Renjun turns around and widens his eyes by the incoming force coming up the mountain and to the wall of poison spirits. He grabs the fire and wind spirits and Chenle, while Donghyuck grabs Jeno, and Mark. Renjun creates a shield around them, and they all huddle together to prepare for impact. The force of the explosion goes through the trees and rips them away from their roots. The manor gets blown away, as well as the wall of poison spirits, each of them turning into dark purple orbs as they hit each other when they fall onto the ground. As for the bottom of Daebing Mountain, Jisung stands in the middle of a circle of blown away grim reapers who are now laying unconscious on the snow. Sungchan lowers the front wall of his box and lets Jaemin, Doyoung, and Taeyong walk out first. They see Jisung standing there, heaving heavily and not noticing the damage he had created upon the environment around him. </p>
<p>Then, Jisung looses his fighting stance, and starts to waver. Jaemin immediately runs to him using his super speed to catch the fae reaper before he falls down. "I got you bud, don't worry" he says. Jisung groans in Jaemin's arms. He looks like he's going to faint at any moment, but despite that, he tries to get up. "Whoa easy, don't get up just yet" Taeyong says. Jisung shakes his head. "We gotta check if..If everyone is ok. We need to see if they're alive" the fae croaks out. Jaemin nods his head. "Ok we will, but you gotta take it easy." He helps Jisung up, and lets the younger wrap his arms around his neck for support. "Let's go together" Doyoung says. He nods towards Sungchan, the revived spirit lifting the ground around them and manipulating it to carry the four to the top of the mountain. When they get there, Sungchan lowers them down, and allows the passengers to get off. "Guys!" Renjun calls out from his bubble. He pops it and lets everyone run out to the four. "Are you guys ok? What happened?" Mark asks. "Jisung had a explosion, but we're all right" Doyoung explains. "Well-" Sungchan says after. He looks at the fae next to Jaemin. "-more or less." </p>
<p>Jaemin let's Chenle take the fae and checks if the others were ok. "We're fine, we got saved by Renjun's bubble!" Jeno says. Jaemin nods, and looks at Renjun. The human immeaditly runs up to him and checks for any cuts or bruises. "Renjun I'm ok, Sungchan shielded us in a rock box" Jaemin says. The human looks up and narrows his eyes. For some reason it reminds Jaemin of Hyo. "I'm being serious, no lies" the hybrid says with his hand up. Doyoung, Taeyong, and Sungchan on the other hand began helping out their fellow revivers who were beginning to get back up. Sungchan runs over to Shotaro as soon as he sees him and Doyoung and Taeyong goes to Yuta, Johnny, and Yoonoh. </p>
<p>"Where's Ms. Choi?" Jisung asks Chenle. His reaper side was kicking in to do some healing, but it wasn't as fast as that of Mark's or Jeno's super healing. "She went off after your mom in a fight. I'm sure she wasn't affected by the explosion." Jisung nods his head in relief, then whips his head towards the leprechaun. "What? Why? What happened?" the fae spits out. Chenle sighs. "I-I don't know, I just saw and she told me not to come with her. I don't know where she went, but I'm sure she's ok." Jisung sits on the snow for a moment, then starts to get up with Chenle's support. "Well, that makes me sorta reassured" he says. </p>
<p>"Park Jisung!" </p>
<p>The Jo twins float above the snow. They had a certain expression on their face that was hard to decipher. "Let's just get this over with shall we?" Jo Daeshim shouts. "You guys go ahead, we gotta help the revivers heal" Doyoung says. The Dreamies nod, and look towards the twins. "You sure you don't need more time for healing?" Chenle asks. Jisung nods. "I'm very sure." Jeno turns into his wolf form. "Chenle! Ramp!" Mark calls out. Chenle let's Renjun be Jisung's crutch and creates a ramp from the ground. Jeno runs onto the ramp and jumps high enough to tackle one of the twins to the ground. "Let's move people!" Mark shouts, and the group begins to run. </p>
<p>The fight is moved into another forest on the other side of the field. Jo Ahrim kicks Jeno off of her. Donghyuck catches the wolf with a bell net and lets him hop off on to the ground and charge Jo Daeshim by using his super jump. Donghyuck on the other hand uses his bells to fight with Jo Ahrim. He uses water strikes and streams to counterattack Jo Ahrim's gas balls and smoke strikes. As they are fighting, Jeno gets back onto his feet and charges at Jo Ahrim hard enough to drive her back, giving Chenle the chance to raise a part of the ground to push her into the air. On the other side, Jo Daeshim fights Mark in hand to hand combat until eventually he kicks Mark in the stomach against a tree. "I don't know whether or not to be grateful or spiteful about these trees and the fact we keep crashing into them" Mark groans as he gets up. "Agreed" Jo Daeshim responds, though he doesn't get the chance to speak more as Jaemin takes Mark's place in fighting the twin. They use martial arts until Jo Daeshim pushes Jaemin to the ground. The twin charges up a gas ball, and throws it at the hybrid, only for Renjun to come in and block it using a shield. "Hello fellow elemental human!' Renjun exclaims and attacks Jo Daeshim with the extension of a tree branch. </p>
<p>Time goes on as the fighting continues. Eventually the twins had came together and held hands to use their ultimate form of attack. "It's time to end this once and for all!" they say in unison. "You're right! It's time for us to go home!" Jeno shouts. Everyone stares at him in confusion, including the twins. "No, we meant like you know, it's time for you to lose" Jo Daeshim says. Jeno puts his hands on his hips. "I know! It IS time for us to lose!" he shouts. Renjun face palms and Donghyuck groans. He puts his hands on the wolf's shoulders and begins to shake him. "Could you PLEASE shut up!" he exclaims. "No! I won't shut up! It is a free democratic country!" Jeno responds. Jaemin bonks him on the head. "Oww" Jeno says, rubbing the top of his head. "DEMOCRACY" Chenle suddenly shouts from the back. "Yeah! We love the enlightenment movement of the 1800's! Go John Locke and his philosophy that didn't really work out in the end cause capitalistic societies are corrupted!" Mark says after. "Ok what the fuck is going on??" Jo Ahrim asks. Renjun snaps his fingers. "Ohh, we're stalling" he says, in a tone that shows he just realized what was happening. "We are??" Donghyuck asks, then groans in pain when Renjun elbows him in the gut. "Please I beg of you, stop elbowing people with your pointy elbow" he says while holding his stomach. That's gotta be the worse injury he's gotten from this war so far, and it wasn't even from the enemy. Jo Daeshim raises his eyebrow. "Stalling for what?" he asks. Jaemin points to the back with his thumb. "That" he says before moving to the side with the rest of the group. Jisung, all healed and ready to go, throws a ice bomb at the twins. It explodes, pushing them back and separating them promptly. As the dust clears, the Dreamies are revealed, huddled together in Renjun's shield. "This is the coziest we've ever been together" Donghyuck says. "Eh, we had other moments" Mark responds. </p>
<p>Renjun pops his shield open and releases the group. He turns to Jisung and pats him on the shoulder. "You good?" he asks. The fae nods his head. "Yes, I am, thank you guys for stalling" he says. "No prob bob" Jeno says after. They move to the side to let Yoonoh, Yuta, Johnny, Yukhei, and some police officers through. They walk up to the twins, were frozen to the ground, hands separated from each other. "Jo Ahrim and Jo Daeshim, you are arrested for being afflicted with the DokZuZhi. You have the right to remain silent, and the right to call a attorney in court" Yoonoh says. Yukhei takes out two handcuffs and goes over to handcuff the twins, but he stops when he notices that their hands are frozen in ice. "Uh..Jisung?" he says. "Oh! Sorry!" Jisung says, and runs over to the scene. "Nah don't worry we got this" Jo Daeshim says, and unfreezes himself and his sister using his elementals. They let Yukhei handcuff them, and escort them out of the forest. As they pass by the group, the twins stop. "Thank you, for setting us free" Jo Ahrim says. Jo Daeshim smiles genuinely. "Good luck out there Dreamies" he says, before walking with the detectives and his sister to the exit of the forest. Jaemin looks at their backs, shaking his head while smiling. "They were always a unpredictable pair" he thinks to himself. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The war isn't over though.</p>
<p>They still gotta find Park Sami.</p>
<p>Luckily, a certain owl flies over to Jisung just in time to tell him where she is.</p>
<p>"She's at the hiking trail with Ms. Choi" Jisung translates. This happens right as the twins and the detectives were walking out of the forest. "Let's take my car" Jeno says. The group nods their heads, and quickly head over to the parking lot to get to Jeno's van. </p>
<p>When they get to the hiking trail, the group quickly climbs out of Jeno's van and follow Hyo up to the park grounds where Jisung, Jaemin, Taeyong, and Ms. Choi had faced the twins last time. "INCOMING!" Donghyuck shouts, and moves to the side with the group to avoid a ice spike. "We must be getting close" Renjun says, and keeps running. </p>
<p>They had expected the fight to be only between Park Sami and Ms. Choi. They didn't expect it to be a three way fight between Park Sami, Ms. Choi, and Yewon, with a couple of spirits and agents. "Great, thought we got one group out of the way but life doesn't give you the ripest lemons does it?!" Jeno exclaims. Just as he says that, Ms. Choi gets thrown against a tree. "What's up with these trees!?" Mark exclaims. The guardian groans, as Renjun comes to her aid. "Boys!" she says when she notices the group. "We're here to help Ms. Choi! Please take a breather and we'll pick up your spot!" Jisung says, as he runs off to fight a agent. "Thank you!" Ms. Choi calls out before going into a coughing fit. Renjun fishes out a healing potion from his belt and opens it. "Here, this is a spiritual potion I made a while ago" he says, handing it over to Ms. Choi. The woman smiles and accepts the potion from the human. "Thank you Renjun" she says, and drinks the potion. When she is done, she hands over the empty potion ball to Renjun. As the human was about to get up, Ms. Choi stops him. "Be careful. Remember what Jung Yoonoh said, conserve your energy well." Renjun smiles and nods his head. "Don't worry Ms. Choi, I'll be sure to do just that." </p>
<p>Renjun gets up from the ground and takes out a spirit sleeping potion. He throws it into the air, and hits it with his tree branch, exploding it into dust. The potion lands on the DokZuZhi spirits, causing them to all fall to the ground in a deep sleep. Only the agents and Park Sami stood within the snow."Sweet" Donghyuck comments.</p>
<p>The group jumps into action. Mark fights a agent, and successfully kicks her into two of her comrades. Jeno fights another, and swings him against another agent who tries to dodge, but ends up being punched in the face by Jaemin. On the other side, Donghyuck and Chenle attempt on fighting Park Sami. Chenle defends against the woman's attacks by raising walls from the ground, while Donghyuck attacks using his bells. "You dare use those shaman bells against me!?" Park Sami screams. She swings her blade, but it gets blocked by Chenle's rock. Renjun comes to aid, by holding Park Sami in place by manipulating his tree branch around her ankles, making the woman fall onto her face. Renjun gets startled when Park Sami glares at him. She looked deranged, tired, and frankly, about to go more mentally insane then she is at the moment (he didn't even know that was possible). "If it weren't for Na Jaemin reviving you, and for the rules set by the spirit world, I would have kicked you into the 7th layer of HELL!" she screams. Park Sami takes her sword and cuts the branches off of her ankle. When she gets up, the woman lifts the sword into the air, letting it take in as much energy as it can muster, then stabs it into the Earth, creating a force so strong that it pushes everyone back. Not even Renjun's shield could protect him.</p>
<p>"WHERE IS HE!?" Park Sami screams. "WHERE IS THAT BRAT!? WHERE IS PARK JISUNG!?" A small snowball hits the back of the woman's head. She whips her head around and sees Jisung standing on a rock. His hands were trembling, and despite his strong stance, the fae had the look of terror on his face. Park Sami lets out a loud and frightful laugh.</p>
<p>Yup, definitely going insane.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jisung throws another snow ball, making Park Sami to stop laughing. She shoots Jisung a glare, her eyes turning almost black. "You stupid child, I have given you a chance to make me proud, but you BLEW IT! You've always disappointed me, ever since you were a baby" she spits out. "Ignore her Jisung, just, ignore her" the fae thinks. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "You're not the boss of me Park Sami, you're not the boss of anyone! Call this war off, even if you are my enemy you are still my mother, and I don't want to fight you." Park Sami tuts and starts to laugh again. "You just don't want to fight because you know you are going to lose! A meek mouse cannot defeat a strong lion no matter how hard he tries!" She takes out her sword, and smiles creepily. "So that is why, I will fight you no matter what you say!" </p>
<p>Park Sami jumps from where she is and raises her sword to attack Jisung. The fae widens his eyes, and jumps off of the rock immediately. He stumbles back when his mother whips her head towards him, her eyes screaming insanity. "Come back here! The lion must kill its prey!" she shouts. "Oh dear god" Jisung mumbles under his breath. He pushes the snow on the ground to twist around Park Sami's ankles and freeze her to the ground, then run away from the park ground and further into the forest of the mountain. The woman frees herself from the ice, and flies after Jisung using her reaper powers. She throws her sword at Jisung, almost hitting him in the head. The fae turns back and practically screams when he sees Park Sami right in front of his face. He uses a ice strike to push her back, then runs faster. </p>
<p>When he feels like he lost the deranged woman, Jisung leans against a tree to catch his breath. He knew his mom is crazy, but he didn't realize it was to the point where she needs a strait jacket. The fae whistles to call for Hyo. He jolts when he turns to see Hyo's face extended right in front of him from where he was sitting on a branch of a tree. That dang bird was there the entire time and didn't bother to help.</p>
<p>Freaking Hyo. </p>
<p>"Help me next time will ya??" Jisung whisper shouts. Park Sami may not be physically in front of him, but he knows she's lurking around, ready to launch onto him when Jisung's vulnerable. Hyo shrinks his neck back to its original position, then nods towards something to the left. Jisung looks and notices something white in the distance. He squints to see what it is, and when he finds out, he immediately starts to panic. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, the hyungs aren't with me right now, what do I, DOOOOOO!!!" A ice spike from Yewon had interrupted Jisung. Hyo points to the right. Park Sami was flying towards the fae from the right, and Yewon was flying towards him from the left. </p>
<p>So how was your day? Jisung's is not going so well. </p>
<p>The fae looks towards Hyo for help, but when he turns his head, the owl was gone. "I swear to god" Jisung says. He takes a ice bomb from his bracelet and throws it up into the air, then slashes it with a ice strike. When it explodes, the fae runs away. Though eventually, the two beings had caught up to him. Yewon trips Jisung by raising a part of the snow, and launches a series of ice spikes towards him. Jisung yelps and shields himself using a ice wall. "Back off you glorified ice ghost! He's mine to kill!" Park Sami shouts. She slashes at the ice spirit with her sword, but Yewon avoids it. Jisung notices what was going on and tries to stop Park Sami by using a ice blast. The woman gets pushed back, changing Yewon's attention from Park Sami, to Jisung.</p>
<p>"Yewon! Remember me? I'm Park Jisung!" the fae says. Yewon throws a ice spike at the fae, to which he blocks off using a ice strike. "Remember the wind and fire spirit you were with? The hyungs? Taeil hyung??" Yewon grabs the snow from the ground and pulls it off to make a wall, then throws it. Jisung stops it, though it takes most of his energy to throw it back, so he lets it go through him and knock him to the ground. He was still conscious through, and was able to get back up. "Yewon! Remember! Remember Taeil hyung! How he took care of you when you were hurt! You got hurt by the very organization you are a part of!!" Jisung shouts. His voice had turn hoarse, and his throat hurt, but he didn't care. From afar Park Sami arises from the snow. She sees Yewon attacking Jisung and takes out another sword. "You bitch! I told you he's mine!!" she shouts. The woman gets up from the snow to go after him, but gets stopped by Ms. Choi with Hyo on her shoulder. "Ready for round two Mrs. Park?" </p>
<p>"GET OUT OF THE WAY HYOJOO, WHY ARE YOU PROTECTING THE KID WHEN HE IS A DISGRACE TO GRIM REAPER KIND!?" Park Sami shouts. She sways the sword towards Ms. Choi, who blocks it with her own. Hyo jumps off and pecks Park Sami's face. "UGH! GET AWAY FROM ME YOU VERMIN!!" she shouts. The woman uses her reaper powers to blast Hyo off of her face and onto the ground, and continues to fight with Ms. Choi in another round of their sword battle. Hyo tries to get up from the ground, but finds that his leg is broken. He sighs and limps to the side to heal. </p>
<p>During this time, Jisung still attempts to heal Yewon. He doesn't quite remember how he did it to the fire spirit, and he doesn't know if he will succeed this time, but the fae tries again anyway. "Yewon, please, don't do this. Think about your family, your friends, the memories you had in your past life" Jisung begs. The ice spirit doesn't listen and throws an ice spike at him. Jisung moves to the side to dodge it and continues doing what he's doing. "Yewon I know you're in there some where. I know deep inside your core there is a little girl who is playful and charming. She will do anything to help her peers, and anything to have fun." Jisung notices Yewon's shape softening a little, but it goes back to its sharp form right after. He tries again. "Yewon might've been scared, but that's ok. She's gone through a lot, and she was beaten down many times, to the point where she almost died." He brings out his hand towards the spirit, but she flings another ice spike. This time Jisung catches it, not minding the cold seeping through his skin. </p>
<p>"She may have been beaten down, but she never gave up. She still persisted no matter how hard the trials were, and quite honestly...I look up to that." Jisung looks down and sighs. "She never gave up, but I always did. I always thought that when I couldn't do something, I couldn't do something." He looks up at the spirit, slightly surprised that she stopped attacking. "It wasn't until I got the support of my friends, and if Yewon, if you ever need that support, when you feel like you're going to give up, I'll be there for you, we'll all be there for you." Jisung's hand gets closer to the point where he can feel the coolness coming off of Yewon's core. "So please...Come back, come back and live a life that you want to live" Jisung whispers. His fingers frost up as they reach closer to Yewon's core. Then, they touch it. </p>
<p>The same feeling of energy rushing towards his finger tips comes back as soon as Jisung puts his finger on Yewon's core. He sees a Yewon, a little girl skating through a frozen lake in the countryside of Korea when suddenly, the ice breaks underneath her. She had a nice family, a lovely older sister, and two loving parents who mourned for the death of their little one. The white glow begins to grow as the healing takes more of Jisung's energy. He's starting to feel light headed, but he doesn't stop, not until the transaction is completed. But, that doesn't stop the white glow from slowly dying out as Jisung's energy starts to run out. Sweat forms on his forehead, as he furrows his eyebrows. "Come on...Don't..Give up!" The white glow starts to die out at a faster rate and Jisung feels like he's about to blackout. He opens his eyes out of panic and almost jumps back when he sees his fingers inside the spirit's core. "What do I do? I can't just step back to heal myself!" he thinks. He looks around for something, some that can help him. </p>
<p>Then, the familiar feeling of leather around his wrist catches his attention. </p>
<p>With the weight of iron balls weighing down his wrist, Jisung lifts the one with the bracelet and looks at the small ice bombs intertwined with the leather. "How am I supposed to take it out with one hand!?" he thinks. He stumbles a bit and looks back at his fingers. The white glow had shrunk down into a tiny speck, at any moment the healing is going to fail. "No, no, it can't stop!" Jisung looks back at the white balls. He closes his eyes. "Taeil hyung said to think out of the box. These are my tools, and I do as I please" he thinks. He pushes the last bit of energy he has through his finger tips while holding his limp arm up. </p>
<p>"These are my tools. I use them as how I want it. It doesn't have to be the standard way. It can be my way." </p>
<p>"I can use..My way." </p>
<p>Jisung opens his eyes. His pupils glow white. One of the capsules of the ice bomb begin to slowly crack open. When it fully discloses, a white-light blue ball comes out from the capsule. Jisung watches as it floats towards him and into his heart. He gasps as the coldness of the ice bomb's spiritual energy surges through his veins and body. He whips his head towards Yewon. The white glow was finally dying out. But then, it comes back to life almost immediately. The fae doesn't feel dizzy anymore, he doesn't feel like he's going to faint. He focuses the new energy into healing Yewon until eventually, the fae and the spirit fall onto the soft snow. </p>
<p>Hyo flies in and catches Yewon on his head. Jisung gets up from the ground and looks at his bracelet. One of the bombs had a large hole in its middle, with nothing inside of it. "So this is what he meant by outside of the box" Jisung smiles to himself. He snaps out of his thoughts when he feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns around and jumps up in joy when he sees Yewon, in her original form, joyful, playful, and happy. "Yewon! We did it! We did it!" Jisung rejoices up and down. The spirit dances around with him, doing flips and flying around in cheerful circles. </p>
<p>"NO!" </p>
<p>The celebration stops. Park Sami throws a tired Ms. Choi off of her as she takes deep breaths. Her hair was a mess, and there was blood dripping from the side of her forehead. Yewon hides behind Jisung as the fae gets into a fighting stance. Hyo flies up to his shoulder, leg all healed, and narrows his eyes at the woman. "YOU, YOU ARE NOT A HEALER! YOU ARE A FIGHTER! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A FIGHTER!! I TRAINED YOU TO BE A FIGHTER!" She uses one sword as a clutch and summons another to point at the fae. "YOU SHALL DIE BY MY HANDS PARK JISUNG, FOR WASTING MY TIME AND ENERGY IN TRYING TO MAKE YOU A CORRECT CHILD!!" Jisung furrows his eyebrows and clenches his fists. "You didn't do anything. You didn't waste anything! All you did was put down heavy expectations on my shoulders, to the point where I had to make it my life's goal to impress you while dealing with low self esteem! If anything, I should punish you, for my childhood trauma!" </p>
<p>Park Sami lets out a bloodcurdling scream and throws her support sword away. She suddenly falls onto the floor, but tries to crawl up to the fae nonetheless. "YOU WRETCHED CHILD! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO YOUR MOTHER LIKE THAT!? WITHOUT ME, YOU WOULDN'T EVEN HAVE THIS POWER! WITHOUT ME, YOU WOULDN'T EXIST AT ALL!! YOU SHALL DIE BY MY HANDS, AND I WILL TAKE IMMENSE SATISFACTION OF SEEING YOUR SPIRIT LIFT FROM YOUR BODY!!" </p>
<p>Yewon comes out from behind Jisung and freezes Park Sami's hands to the ground. At the same time from behind, Renjun uses a glue potion to stick Park Sami's ankle to the ground while Donghyuck encases her in a bell cage . "And we will take immense satisfaction of throwing you into jail ya nasty lady!" Chenle yells from behind. He raises walls from the ground to make a rock box, and lets Mark slap a unbreakable talisman onto each wall. Once he's done, he leans against the box and waves at Jisung. "Hiya" he says with a smile. </p>
<p>"Hyungs! You're ok!" Jisung exclaims, running up to his friends. "Yeah, sorry we couldn't come earlier, Renjun had to take time giving us some medicine to heal ourselves faster" Jeno laughs. They all come together in a group hug, and when they separate, Jaemin quickly checks for injuries. "Hyung I'm fine, I'm fine" Jisung says with a giggle. "We heard a large popping sound. what happened? Did you get hurt?" Renjun asks. </p>
<p>"That loud popping sound was Jisung" The group turns and immediately helps Ms. Choi up to her feet. "Awe, you boys are too kind, you all didn't have to come and help me" she laughs. Jisung hugs the woman, and she hugs him back. "I am very proud of you Jisung" she whispers. They break. Ms. Choi chuckles as she wipes Jisung's tears from his face. "Thank you, for being my true guardian" the fae says. Ms. Choi smiles. "I will always be there when you need it." </p>
<p>The sound of police radios and chatter catches everyone's attention. Renjun looks up at Yewon and laughs when they make eye contact. "So the loud popping sound was Jisung healing you!" he says to the ice spirit. The ice spirit nods excitedly and spins around in a circle. "Woahh, Jisung you're cool man" Chenle says, wrapping his arm around the fae's shoulder. "Ow! Ow! Don't pull too hard Chenle! My shoulder is still healing!" The leprechaun instantly takes his arm off. "Sorry! But we're so proud of you!!"</p>
<p>"Yes very proud" Mr. Park says as he comes up. He sighs and awkwardly opens his arms for a hug. Jisung laughs softly and walks over to accept it. "I'm sorry for not helping you out son. I will do everything in my power to support you and what you want to do." Jisung breaks the hug and looks up at his father. "Thanks dad." He looks behind Mr. Park and sees Yoonoh running up to him to give him a monster hug. "There's the best cousin in the world!" the detective shouts. "HYUNG YOU'RE SQUEEZING ME!!" Jisung shouts. "HIS SHOULDER AIN'T GOOD!" Chenle shouts. Yoonoh makes a O with his face and puts Jisung down. "Sorry! I thought you were all healed up." He pats Jisung's good shoulder and smiles. "We're proud of you Sung." Jisung nods and thanks Yoonoh. The detective nods back before calling his detectives to come arrest Park Sami. </p>
<p>It's over.</p>
<p>It's finally, over. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>The Jo twins were sent to the same prison as their father. As for Park Sami, she had been sent to a mental institute for prisoners, watched over by the great deity of justice.</p>
<p>(Renjun honestly didn't know there was a great deity of justice. He feels like Taeil is just making that up)</p>
<p>Ms. Choi, or now Chief Choi Hyojoo had taken Park Sami's place in the Grim Reaper's force, and now takes lead in helping beings and spirits alike, like the true grim reaper she is. When she is not on duty, she comes to Neo City to help Jisung and his healing powers, which takes a lot of yoga and meditating. </p>
<p>"How is it that you just took a yoga lesson, and now you're shaking like a chihuahua" Chenle asks, staring at Jisung's trembling hand. "It's because the pose Chief Choi made me stand in took so much of my muscle power, I practically just splat onto the floor like a putty slime" Jisung answers. He takes a swig of his water and smacks his lips. "I never appreciated water as much as I do now." Donghyuck tuts at the comment and crosses his arms. "Ahem, look who's at the table sonny" the merman says. Jisung opens his eyes and apologizes and begs for mercy when Donghyuck starts to chase him around the lab. After Jisung's experience with Yewon, the fae has become much more confident, but still is modest. Renjun smiles as he watches the fae get playfully chased by Donghyuck. He's happy that he's got to see the two grow as elemental holders. He's happy that he's got to see all, of his friends grow. </p>
<p>Chenle had grown to be mature, Jeno had grown to be his own individual, Mark has grown to be more determined with his dream, and Donghyuck and Jisung had grown to be confident elemental holders. </p>
<p>He looks at Jaemin. The hybrid sits at the table, staring at the rows and rows of spirits sitting in front of him. He had that face again, that same emotionless face. Jaemin is thinking about something, but Renjun does not know what. The human takes a sip of his jasmine milk tea. </p>
<p>He hopes to find out sooner or later.</p>
<p>And he has a feeling he will. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>A knock on Jisung's window grabs the fae's attention. He opens it to a certain owl holding a old Korean book in his beak. Lemon peeks to the side out of curiosity, wondering why Jisung is whispering to the owl as if he didn't want the flower to know what they're talking about. </p>
<p>"Are you sure I'm allowed to do this? Dad or Chief Choi won't yell at me right?" The owl nods his head. Jisung isn't sure that if he's telling the truth of if Hyo is just lying to make Jisung feel less guilty cause what he is doing right now is the equivalent of looking at someone's medical records. </p>
<p>Then again, this is to confirm someone's true identity, something that every grim reaper, half or not, has to know at some point. </p>
<p>Jisung thanks Hyo for bringing the book and let's the owl inside his dorm room. Lemon greets Hyo as he flies to the desk with a leaf wave. The owl gives back the greeting by bowing. Jisung joins them by sitting down on his desk chair and setting the book onto the surface of the table. The fae gives Lemon a serious look. "Don't tell anyone I'm doing this ok? Especially not Renjun hyung or Chenle. What I am about to do is going to be only between me, you, and Hyo, got it?" Lemon nods her head, and mimics the motion of zipping her lips together, something she's seen Renjun and Mark do time to time.</p>
<p>Taking a deep breath, Jisung shares a glance with Hyo. Then, he turns the book around to the front cover, letting Hyo and Lemon to take a look. </p>
<p>
  <b>KOREA GRIM REAPER PROPERTY</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>HUMAN RECORDS</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>NA JAEMIN</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>08/13/2000 -</b>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>:)))</p>
<p>See y'all in the next arc huhu</p>
<p>Thanks for reading! </p>
<p>
  <a href="https://linktr.ee/monchick">Linktree</a>
</p>
<p>  <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0er4pY7bsIweImO6SrN8zK">Neo City Playlist</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0047"><h2>47. 32. His Name, is Spiffy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>My name, is Spiffy</p><p>Mr. Spiffy!</p><p>That's also the name of my club</p><p>The Spiffy Club! </p><p>I'll check your house out, in a jiffy </p><p>Oh so quickly! </p><p>So don't forget to mop and clean and scrub</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ladies, Gentlemen, Non Binary, and Gender Fluid Folks</p><p>May I Present to You: </p><p>The Longest Fucking Filler Chapter in Existence </p><p>And on that note, this is gonna be the last chapter! </p><p>FOR A WHILE, THE STORY ISN'T ENDING YET JUST HOLD ON </p><p>You see, the next arc, and the final arc, will be based around Jaemin, and if you haven't noticed yet Jaemin's character is a...interesting fellow with lots of things going on, and in order to organize all of what's going on I need time to get my shit together huhu</p><p>In other words, I won't be updating for a while as I am working on Jaemin's arc, but I will try to post bits and pieces of the arc until the very end, so hang in there! </p><p>Thank you guys for reading this story thus far! This has been a creative project of mine ever since last year, and it makes me so happy that people are engaging with it! </p><p>Once again thank you for the support, and here's this strange chapter! </p><p>P.S there are some links for you to click on if you need a auditory or visual representation of what the story is referencing to so make sure to click on those! </p><p>
  <a href="https://linktr.ee/monchick">Linktree</a>
</p><p>
  <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0er4pY7bsIweImO6SrN8zK">Neo City Playlist</a>
</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"AHHHHHHHHH, HIPPTY HOPPITY GET OUT OF MY PROPERTY YOU TEETHY ANGEL!!" </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Today, Renjun had received a visit from his childhood friend. </p><p>Liu Yangyang is a energetic kid. Always keeping that big smile on his face, always bouncing around. He and Renjun had been neighbors in Jilin before the latter moved to Neo City since they were babies, and stuck to each other as if they were glued by the hips until their high school graduation, which by how close they are, you can imagine how tear breaking it was for them to separate. </p><p>It's been like 3 years since Renjun had last seen Yangyang, so he was pretty excited to meet him when the kid told him that he was gonna be in Korea for a while for a weekend vacation.</p><p>"College sucks so I just came here for fun" Yangyang had said over the phone. "Gotta get away from the 'ol Jilin scene ya know?" </p><p>Renjun never told Yangyang about Neo City, because of the pact he made with fate in order to stay as a resident, so he had expected to meet him in Seoul. </p><p>Cause you know, it's strange to have a regular human being with no connections to Neo City to suddenly appear without notice. The supernatural beings in Neo City, understandably, don't like humans too much because of their history, so you know, they naturally just put up a barrier between the city and the human world. </p><p>So when Renjun finds Yangyang waiting in the lobby of his dormitory with his iconic teethy smile, he naturally screamed in a panic and tried to fight Yangyang with his itty bitty hands.</p><p>Cause because if he didn't, fate will super kick his ass with the high heeled boots of a drag queen into the forests of Tianmu Mountain.</p><p>Which is in Hangzhou not...Jilin-</p><p>Anyways,</p><p>"Nice to see you too Renjun" Yangyang says, his smile still on his face. He was unfazed by Renjun's reaction, mainly because he would react much worse if he was him. </p><p>Renjun lowers his hands. "S-sorry! It's just that, I didn't..Expect you to..appear in the lobby! I thought you were at a..cafe or something." </p><p>Read: Expected him to not be in Neo City period. </p><p>"Renjun you know that I'm a supernatural right?" Yangyang says. He dropped his smile and rose a eyebrow as if this was something he told Renjun a million times. </p><p>Well news flash! </p><p>HE DIDN'T.</p><p>"UM NO!?! YOU DIDN'T!?! YOU NEVER TOLD ME THAT!!" Renjun exclaims. He couldn't believe this! His brother from another mother, never bothered to tell him that he was supernatural! Granted it was probably best if Yangyang didn't cause...Renjun is a human, but the latter had fully known he was attending Neo University. Childhood best friends don't keep secrets from each other, especially if that secret could potentially give Renjun a aneurysm from thinking Yangyang broke the system that protected the city from bad humans, and that fate will deem it his fault and therefore will proceed to shoot him out of the city with a bazooka. </p><p>"Oh..Well, surprise! I'm a leprechaun!!" Yangyang cheerfully exclaims. His smile dropped into a expression of fear as he notices Renjun's narrowed eyes.</p><p>You know you did something wrong, when you see THEE eyes.</p><p>"Ok, but give me at least 5 seconds to get a head start on running" Yangyang pleads. </p><p>"I'll give you three." </p><p>"Fair enough!" </p><p>Renjun would spend 5 minutes chasing Yangyang around campus before he eventually gets tired and gives up. </p><p>.</p><p>After forgiving Yangyang for his betrayal of the friendship code, the pair went ahead and went to District 127 to talk further in a cafe Renjun frequented. </p><p>"I still can't believe you never told me that you were a leprechaun. Like, you should've at least told me when I was admitted into Neo University" Renjun says, after sitting down. He had ordered both of their coffees and snacks at the cashier and paid for them, as the great host he is. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. A part of me didn't realize that you went to a supernatural university" Yangyang says with a laugh.</p><p>They talk a little more while they wait for their coffees, learning what the other did in the past three years. Yangyang learns about Renjun's revival job, and the latter learns about Yangyang's music production program. "Oh, is that way you never applied to Neo University?" Renjun asks. Now that he thought about it, when he had first got accepted into Neo University, a lot of people had pounded him with questions about how he got into the hardest school to get accepted to. Yangyang on the other hand, didn't really question him too much and just congrats him (the grammar is wrong there, but the leprechaun literally said "I congrats you Huang Renjun"). It made Renjun question his reaction which resulted in a long string of questions that lasted until their graduation. "Yeah, there isn't a really good music program in Neo University, so I went with Daxue University, cause their music production program is awesome, like people there got to work with some of the best artists in the industry." Renjun smiles at how Yangyang talks with such excitement. It's one of the many things why Renjun is grateful to have Yangyang as a friend. Seeing him talk like that just brings joy into his day. </p><p>They talk more about their families, professors, classmates, until they eventually get to their friends. Yangyang tells Renjun of all of the silly shenanigans he and his music friends had gotten into throughout his college career, making Renjun dying of laughter at the end of each story. Sooner or later, when their cups are empty and their plates were nothing but crumbs, Yangyang asks Renjun about his friends. "Tell me especially about that boyfriend of yours" Yangyang says, while wiggling his eyebrows. He laughs when Renjun throws a napkin at him. "I bet you have a much crazier story then I do. You always have this thing about really interesting stories" the leprechaun says after his laughing fit. Well, Renjun should say half leprechaun. Yangyang is half leprechaun and half goblin, which makes him more mischievous.</p><p>And Renjun loves him for that. </p><p>"Ooo, there is a lot of interesting stories, but I don't know which one to tell" Renjun says. There are many things the group had done that sounds like a movie to other people. There's stories of Donghyuck getting Jeno's van stuck in a parking lot after trying to squeeze it through a tunnel when it clearly wasn't going to fit, Chenle accidentally starting a cupcake war with his tutoring students which accidentally got Renjun and Jisung involved, Jeno getting lost in Sul Mountains when they were visiting Chief Choi, then eventually finding him crying as a Samoyed in the snow, Mark filling his dorm full of fried eggs after Kunhang dared him to make a fried egg.</p><p>And that was just the mild stuff. </p><p>But a story that Renjun feels that explains how he and his friends go on with their daily lives is the one where they had to go on a ingredient mission for Jungwoo. Now that one, that one is just packed with just screaming, dancing, migraines, and a talking fish.</p><p>"Ok, let me tell you about of this story.." </p><p>
  <i>Couple Weeks Earlier</i>
</p><p>
  <i>The Dormitories</i>
</p><p>"Jaem!! We gotta get to the tea party! Did you get the sandwiches?"   </p><p>From behind the kitchen wall peeks out a Jaemin wearing his bird nest sunhat he had purchased a long time ago when his friends went koo koo bonkers. "Sexy" he states, and shows Renjun a bag of dog biscuits he had baked earlier. "We can't bring those to the party pup, no one but you and Jeno will be able to eat them" he says. He finishes adjusting his purple tie and walks over to the hybrid pouting behind the wall. He gives him a peck and smiles. "Besides, those are for you to eat." Jaemin smiles and gives Renjun a peck back before taking one of the biscuits out of the bag and putting it into his mouth. </p><p>After getting the sandwiches and making sure Pangxie is cozy in her tank (the crab had a lovely pink bowler hat on her head, which looked cute as fuck), Renjun walks over to the door and opens it so he and Jaemin can go out. Though, instead of a empty hallway, the door opens to a girl standing outside with her hands on her hips and a expression on her face that could kill. </p><p>"Oh hi Jisu, what's up?" Renjun asks. Jisu crosses her arms. "I believe you boys also have a tea party today yes?" she asks. Renjun and Jaemin nod their heads. "Well, tell your nice friends Donghyuck and Jeno to give back our tea set that they have unrightfully taken from us, because our mother is not happy." Renjun raises an eyebrow. </p><p>"Mother?" </p><p>"Chaeryeong" </p><p>"Oh, makes sense." </p><p>Jisu nods her head. "I have came to you because you two are the only men I can trust on this floor. Tell Donghyuck and Jeno we need that tea set back, or else they will have to face the consequences that involves Ryujun's sharp, sharp claws." Renjun and Jaemin shivers. Shin Ryujin has one of the sharpest claws out of all of the werewolves in their grade. One slash from her, and you could potentially loose an arm. "Yeah, we'll make sure to do that" Renjun says. The human and Jaemin try to leave the room, but are stopped by Jisu once again and her slender finger. "Ah ah! I have also came here to make our annual trading deal!" she announces. Renjun makes an O with his mouth. "Oh yes! Why of course. What do you guys have for this year?"</p><p>"Today we have some sweet edible rose cookies made from scratch. It goes well with tea, and I'm sure it'll fit your tea party" Jisu purposes. Renjun nods his head and taps his chin. That does sound like a nice snack to have. "Alright" he says. "Then I shall recommend these Inkigayo tea sandwiches." The human steps to the side to let Jaemin show off the little sandwiches in their case. "They are the same as the sandwiches at Inkigayo, but tinier" Renjun says. Jisu nods as she looks at the sandwiches and puts out her hand. "Then I expect these sandwiches at the transaction" she says. Renjun accepts it and shakes it. "You got yourself a deal." </p><p>Renjun and Jaemin then walk over to Donghyuck's and Jeno's dorm that sat at the end of the hallway. Jaemin knocks the famous Dreamie knock on the door, which opens to a Jisung wearing a suit that would make the Mad Hatter jealous, with a big feathered hat on his head. "Welcome to the hellish wonders of madness" Jisung greets. He lets the couple walk in and closes the door after. Renjun sets Pangxie's tank on a kiddy table and lets the crab climb out into her water bowl on the table where the other pets, each with their own hat, greet her excitedly with quacks, meows, and wiggles. "Where's Hyo?" Renjun asks Jisung. "I don't really know. Maybe he'll come, maybe he won't. I don't really get that bird sometimes" the fae answers.</p><p>Well shit if Jisung doesn't know, then no one knows what's on that bird's mind. </p><p>"OH GOODNESS YOU'RE HERE! WE HAVE A EMERGENCY!" Donghyuck exclaims. He walks on over towards Renjun and grabs his shoulders. "HAVE THE MAFIA (this was a unintended pun and was written way before in the morning came out huhu) COME TO TALK TO YOU TOO!??" he asks. Renjun nods his head and puts the merman's hands down. "Yes, they have said that if you are to give them their tea set back, then they will not send Ryujin to kill you" Renjun reports. Jeno kneels onto the ground. "WE HAVE A CHANCE OF SURVIVAL!!" he shouts before face planting onto the floor. Jaemin looks around the room. It appears that there is a person missing. "Sexy?" he asks. "Mark hyung said he's gonna be late. His professor had something for him to do" Chenle explains. </p><p>Meanwhile, Donghyuck and Jeno had no time to worry about what Mark was doing, as they're busy putting their neighbor's tea set back into its packaging as nicely as possible. "How did you even get their tea set in the first place? Don't tell me you went mail hunting again, I told you that's illegal" Renjun asks while he's separating the sandwiches. Donghyuck looks up and blows the feather hanging off of his hat out of his face. "Huang I told you, mail hunting isn't what you think it is. Also, Jeno here got the mail mixed up and accidentally got their tea set instead of ours!!" he shouts. "They're from the same company! How was I supposed to differentiate between the boxes!?" Jeno whines. Renjun lifts an eyebrow. "By looking at who the recipient is?" Jeno gives him a pout before closing the tea set box shut. "Ok, I think it's ready to go. Renjun you're coming with us correct?" </p><p>"Why of course, who else is going to be your diplomat slash economic trader" Renjun says. He picks up the picnic basket that was leftover from the last time he traded with Jisu, fills it with sandwiches and walks over to the door. "Prepare yourselves, and don't fuck up" the human advises, and walks out of the door with a sweaty merman and wolf.</p><p>They arrive in front of their neighbor's door step, and initate a knock. The door swings open, Yuna standing in the doorway with a nice yellow sun dress on. She stares at the trio before smiling and calling her friends. "Jisu unni! The guilty and the trader are here!" she shouts. Donghyuck and Jeno gulps as Jisu walks over to the doorway. "I'm glad to see you have come immeaditly upon our word to you" she says. She gestures with her finger to call for someone. Ryujin, with her bright bubble gum pink hair, walks over and cocks her head to the side, leaning against the doorway. "H-hello madams" Donghyuck greets with a curtsy. </p><p>"We will check to see if our tea set is safe and sound" Jisu says. "Or else." Ryujin lifts her hand and extends her claws, making the boys jolt. Renjun and Donghyuck move out of the way to let Jeno hand over the tea set box to Jisu. The fairy accepts and opens it, letting Ryujin and Yuna look at the cups and pot themselves. "Oh! Did the boys come over with the tea set?" Chaeryeong calls from a far. She comes walking over with Yeji, and looks at the set from behind. "It looks pretty good to me" Yeji says. "And pretty! The design is really nice!" Yuna says after. Jisu nods her head and hands the box to Ryujin. "Alright, you guys survive this time" Jisu says. Donghyuck and Jeno breathe a sigh of relief. They dodged a bullet, literally.</p><p>"And now it's time for the trade" Chaeryeong announces. She hands over a picnic basket of cookies, while Renjun hands over a picnic basket of sandwiches. "There are exactly 30 cookies in this basket" she says as she hands it over. "And there are exactly 30 sandwiches in this one" Renjun says after. They both check their baskets to be sure there is the right amount of food. Then, when they see there is enough, the girls lift their heads from the basket and wave a good bye. "Thank you guys for coming over! Next time if you mix up our mail again, I will send both Ryujin and Yeji unni to execute you both" Chaeryeong says with a smile, before walking back into the dorm room. The rest of the girls follow except for Yuna who gives the boys a bright smile before closing the door. </p><p>Donghyuck glances over to Jeno. "You better not mix it up again, or else it'll literally be our doom" </p><p>Jeno glares at Donghyuck. "That goes the same for you, Lee." </p><p>"Aren't you both Lees?" </p><p>"Shush Huang!" </p><p>After bickering for a while, the three walks back to Donghyuck's and Jeno's dorm to rejoin the tea party. Mark was standing and talking to Jaemin, in a boring black and white suit when they came in, making Donghyuck frown. "Hyung!" he says. Mark turns around, and tenses up when his merboyfriend stomps over to the vampire with a angry pout. "Hyuck I can explain" Mark says with his hands up. "How could you forget our Wonderland esque dress code!?" the merman exclaims. "I didn't! Well, I did. My mind was occupied on med school stuff, so please spare me for this one time?" Mark pleads. Donghyuck narrows his eyes at the vampire, and crosses his arms. Then, he sighs. "Fine, only because you actually look pretty hot in this suit." Jaemin snorts in the background upon hearing that sentence. "Sexy" he says, which translates to "You're so whipped." Chenle opens his mouth to say something, but Jisung covers it. "He's aware that he's as whipped for Renjun hyung as Donghyuck hyung is for Mark hyung" Jisung whispers.</p><p>
  <i>Present Day</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Limitless Mall</i>
</p><p>"Oh god, you know I got scratched by a werewolf once. It was not fun" Yangyang says. Renjun tuts. "I bet it wasn't, what did you do to get scratched?" Yangyang puts a shirt back onto the rack and taps his chin. "I think I took his pencil to make fun of him and he got mad. We're friends now, but back then, we were merely classmates." </p><p>"Why did you steal his pencil?" </p><p>"To get revenge, but that's a story for another time." The leprechaun goblin takes a pair of sneakers from a rack and tries them on. "How do these look?" he asks. Renjun looks at the big, red shoes, on his childhood friend's feet. "Like clown feet?" he says. Yangyang looks at the shoes and nods. "I see where you're going with that." He takes them off and puts them back on the rack. "I know that wasn't the end of the story, it would be strange if it ended there" he says. Renjun smiles and nods. Yangyang is the only person outside of his friend group who knows when Renjun's strange stories truly ends. Mainly because the leprechaun goblin experiences the same stuff as well. </p><p>"So while we were having our tea party" Renjun continues. "We receive a visit from this guy named Jungwoo..."</p><p>
  <i>A Couple Weeks Ago</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Donghyuck's and Jeno's Dorm</i>
</p><p>A knock on the door silences the room from all talk and banter. The knock wasn't their Dreamie Tea Time knock, so that means it's a stranger.</p><p>"Ew, it's a person we don't know" Donghyuck says while scrunching his nose up. "Whoever gets the cookie last has to sacrifice themselves to the unknown entity!" Jeno exclaims. The table then scrambles to grab a cookie from the middle plate. Renjun sighs when he's the last one to grab a cookie, and gets up from his chair, ignoring the snickers of his friends behind them. "Stupid supernatural beings and their fast abilities" he grumbles as he walks to the door. He looks into the peephole and jumps back when he sees a eyeball staring right at him. Then, Renjun opens the door.</p><p>"Hello!" Jungwoo greets. </p><p>"Hello!" Renjun and his friends greet back.</p><p>They stare at each other for a while, before Jungwoo fishes out a piece of paper from his back pocket. "I need a favor from you guys" he says.</p><p>Renjun closes the door on that note, and walks back to his seat.</p><p>"WAIITT!!! COME BACK!!" Jungwoo shouts. He bangs on the door repeatedly until Donghyuck groans and gets up to go open the door. "We are having a lovely tea party at the moment here!" he says to the fox. "Good! That means you all can go on a adventure together!" Jungwoo says. Donghyuck slaps his forehead. "What he means is that we are trying to R E L A X after having our mid term exams for the semester" Renjun says with his arms crossed. Jungwoo pouts and takes Donghyuck's hand and puts the paper in to it. "Oh come on, have I ever given you both stressful missions to go on?"</p><p>"Yes" </p><p>"All of the fucking time." </p><p>Jungwoo pouts. "There's only three items, and I'm sure you guys can get it done if you drag your friends with you" he says. Mark raises his hand. "Uh? Can we get a say in this?" he asks from a far. The rest of the group are aware of the trials and tribulations that Renjun and Donghyuck go through on Jungwoo's strange missions for the restaurant, but they never really....gave sympathy for them.</p><p>"Guys? We're not going..right?" Jeno asks. Renjun and Donghyuck stand quietly, their back facing towards the rest of the group, making them all feel uneasy. Even Jungwoo was getting worried. "HelloOoooo? Earth to my fetchers?" he calls out. Renjun and Donghyuck share a glance, and a evil smile, then turn slowly towards their friends in synchronization.</p><p>"Oh, they're all going alright." </p><p>.</p><p>"Tch! Easy my ass! What the heck all are of these!?" </p><p> Donghyuck folds the paper and angrily shoves it into his pocket after reading off the items Jungwoo needs. The group had changed into clothes that are considered normal for society (except for Jaemin who refused to take off his bird nest hat, which is now poking Renjun and Jeno in the side of their heads) and are now sitting in Mark's van. </p><p>They don't really know where to start. Usually that's the case for every mission that Renjun and Donghyuck go on, but they managed to get through it. </p><p>"I mean, some of the items seem easy enough to find" Mark says. He stops at a red light and asks for the list Donghyuck just stuffed into his pocket. He takes a look at it and points at one of the items. "I know a cheese store around here, we could probably find what we're looking for there." Jeno nods. "It shouldn't be that hard to find imported cheese from France" he says. Jaemin nods his head after says "sexy", his hat furthering bugging his fellow passengers.</p><p>Renjun sighs.</p><p>Amateurs. </p><p>Mark parks on the street in front of the cheese store he was talking about and gets off of the car with his friends. They walk into the store, Renjun and Donghyuck fully expecting the cheese not to be there. "Look! Cheese from France!" Chenle exclaims and walks over to the shelf he was pointing at with Jisung. </p><p>"Hi, we're looking for cheese that had been imported straight from France" Mark says to the cashier. She stares at Mark, then points to the very shelf Chenle, Jisung, and Jaemin were staring at without saying a word. "There, easy done that" Jeno says with a eye smile. Renjun sighs. "That is not what we are looking for though" he says while shaking his head. Mark furrows his eyebrow with confusion. "But it says here 'brie cheese imported from France!" he says. Donghyuck snatches the paper and taps on the very line Jungwoo wrote. "It says 'brie cheese imported from France BUT not by ship, car, truck, plane, bicycle, or motorcycle' dumb dumb!" The merman turns to the cashier. "Got any of those?" There was a bit of silence before the cashier mutters a "no." </p><p>"Well do you at least got something imported by..horse?" Mark asks. Once again the cashier lady says, "no." </p><p>"You see lads" Renjun says, leaning against the counter. "If you wanna go on this mission with us ("You forced us to go on this mission with you" "Shush Markie, Huang's speaking"), then you gotta do it our way." At this time, Jaemin comes walking back with Chenle and Jisung to join the conversation. "Sexy?" he asks. Donghyuck joins Renjun in leaning against the counter, to which the cashier lady calmly walks to the back to let them hold their conversation. "You can't just waltz right into stores, no, no, no. You gotta talk to specific people to get what chu want" the merman says. Renjun crosses his arms and lifts his chin. "And luckily, we got a guy who's gonna point us to the right place." </p><p> </p><p>"Johnny hyung, where can we get brie cheese imported from France, but not by ship, car, truck, plane, bicycle, or motorcycle, a 12cm pumpkin seed, and the feather of a potoo bird?" </p><p> </p><p>Johnny shrugs his shoulders and gives his customer their bingsoo. "I don't know, why do you always come to me whenever you're getting something for Jungwoo?" he asks. </p><p>Donghyuck takes a swig from the bingsoo Jisung is holding his hand and shivers from the coldness of the ice. "Because" he says with some of the leftover frozen peaches in his mouth. "You work almost everywhere in Neo City, so you pretty much know everything about everyone and every place." Renjun cringes at Donghyuck's mouth and covers it. "At least tell us who we can ask for one of the items on our list" he says. </p><p>"I guess you could go to the District V markets" Johnny says. "Those people are always finding items from weird places. One time I had to go there to pick up some noodles for Yuta's ramen shop, and the guy told me he got those noodles hand pulled by chicken driven ox in Western China." The group takes a moment to decipher how that is possible, and IS it possible, but they give up after a couple of seconds. "Well, I guess we'll start there, thanks hyung!" Mark says. The older wolf gives them a good bye, and goes back to crushing ice for his next customer. </p><p>
  <i>Present Day</i>
</p><p>
  <i>District V's Street Market</i>
</p><p>"Mmm, seems like that Johnny dude got scammed" Yangyang says after putting some fabric into his shopping bag. Renjun lifts a eyebrow at the fabric the other had purchased, and questioned why he did. "My mom wanted some to make homemade bags" Yangyang answers. Renjun eyes the fabric. It was bright orange, and certainly not enough for even a small hand bag. "I think you should get more" he says. Yangyang smiles and snaps his fingers, "I knew I could count on you for catching my stupidity" he says, and turns back to the lady at the booth. When he's done getting what he needed, he asks Renjun to continue.</p><p>"You see that red line over there?" Renjun asks. He was pointing towards the scraggly painted red line from the entrance of the street market, all the way to the old DokZuZhi building, which now serves as the District Office for District V. Yangyang nods, and turns towards the human, excitement in his eyes. "Don't tell me you guys were the one who did this" he asks with a smile. Renjun shakes his head. "We didn't, but a certain bird did." </p><p>
  <i>A Couple Weeks Ago</i>
</p><p>
  <i>District V's Street Market</i>
</p><p>"Hi, do you have cheese?" </p><p>The lady looks at Chenle with confusion in her eyes and shakes her head. "No this is a fruit stand" she says. Chenle nods and gives a peppy "xiexie" before joining his hyungs and Jisung. "Not there either" he reports. Renjun hums and taps his chin. "Where would they sell cheese in a street market" he wonders to himself.</p><p>"Sexy!" Jaemin suddenly exclaims. He points to a certain owl flying above the heads of customers into the market. Jisung puts out his arm and lets Hyo land on it. There was a folded piece of paper in the owl's mouth, to which Jisung tries to grab. Though to his avail, Hyo extends his neck backwards before Jisung could get it. The fae rolls his eyes. "You are a very hungry bird" he says, and digs out a cracker from his pocket. He hands the cracker to Chenle to let the leprechaun feed Hyo, and accepts the folded paper from the bird. </p><p>"What's that?" Jeno asks. "It's a map that Hyo made" Jisung says. Donghyuck eyes the paper with suspicion. "How do we know that Hyo is accurate in what he is drawing" he asks, when really the real question is; can a bird even draw. "It's actually much more easier to read compared to the other maps he drew" Jisung says. "We just have to follow that red line." </p><p>"What red line?" </p><p>"That red line." </p><p>Behold, a large red line from where the group stood, slithers through the market to their destination. They all turn to the bird munching on his last bits of his cracker, and spot some red paint on his claws. Either someone will get the idea that this owl created this line, or that he just had a very bloody lunch. </p><p>"Well, lets not put this line to waste!" Mark says, before marching to follow the line like some sort of 50's cartoon character. </p><p>.</p><p>The red line happened to lead the group straight to one of the very items on their list.</p><p>
  <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Ffactanimal.com%2Fpotoo%2F&amp;psig=AOvVaw2qyTj485eWvcGTjcLYb_qZ&amp;ust=1620196284242000&amp;source=images&amp;cd=vfe&amp;ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCMD0yNOzr_ACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ"> a potoo bird</a>
</p><p>It's a interesting looking creature. It stood tall with its long body, with the biggest pout Renjun has ever seen on a bird and bulging yellow eyes that stuck out from the sides of its head. When the owner, a tanghulu vendor, goes to feed the bird, it opens its gigantic, 6 ft hole of a mouth to accept its beetles, termites, and one moth. </p><p>Jisung and Donghyuck practically ran up to the bird with joy. </p><p>"What's up with them?" Jeno asks. "And what's up with that bird?" Chenle adds after. Renjun sighs. "That bird is practically the mixture of Nancy and Hyo, I'm surprised they didn't fly up to the poor thing."  </p><p>That "poor thing" as Renjun had put it, did not take mind to the two boys and the one owl staring at it as it continues to stare at a dim sum stand across from them. "Qiniao, I said not to stare at the dimsums, I said they're not good for you" the vendor says. The bird looks at him for a second, then gives its glorious attention to the people who are staring at them. "You are beautiful" Donghyuck whispers. Hyo shifts his body on Jisung's shoulder to get comfortable and gives a greeting nod to Qiniao (the name fitting the bird very much), who stares at him and only opens its mouth a centimetre before staring at the dimsum stand. </p><p>"Hiya guys!" the vendor greets when he finally notices the group standing in front of his bird. "Glad you took a liking to Qiniao. A lot of people are very scared of him, and just run away. Especially the kids, they always run off crying." </p><p>I wonder why.</p><p>"Could I get you guys a sweet stick of Tanghulu? Or do you wanna hang out with Qiniao for a while?" the vendor asks. Oh a tanghulu stick sounds mighty great right now, but Jungwoo only gave the group enough money for the items he wanted. "Uh, actually, we are here for another...thing" Mark says. The vendor gives a smile and tilts his head. "Oh! What can I do for ya?" Mark laughs nervously, and rightfully so. How does one just walk up to a person and ask, "hey, give me a feather of your bird who you are so proud of that you take him to work everyday despite people shriveling up in fear under its stare and/or trying to defend themselves with a exorcist" </p><p>No really, a person just walked up to the stand with a exorcist.</p><p>"Ms. Li I told you, my bird isn't a demon, now please go back to your stand" the vendor says. Ms. Li narrows her eyes at the vendor and his bird, then snaps her finger, telling the exorcist to follow her. "I will uncover the truth!" she shouts as she walks back to where she came from. The vendor only rolls his eyes and turns back to the boys. "Sorry, she keeps thinking Qiniao came from the deep parts of Hell, when in reality he came from a supernatural city in South America. Anyways, what is that thing you're want to ask me for?" </p><p>"Well-" Jeno starts. "-we have come here on a mission from a gumiho sandwich maker to retrieve items for him and his delicious sandwiches, and one of them happened to be the feather of a potoo bird." Qiniao whips his heads towards Jeno at the mention of a potoo bird which startled Jeno so much, that he stumbled onto the ground, knocking Chenle in the process. "Qiniao is right boys, his feathers are not for sale" the vendor says. Renjun looks over to Donghyuck, the main hustler of the team, but the merman was too occupied with the potoo bird that Renjun had to take matters into his own hands. </p><p>You see, when you want something from a bird, you don't negotiate with the owner. No, no, no, that won't work, you gotta hustle with the bird itself.</p><p>"Qiniao" Renjun speaks. The bird turns its attention to Renjun, it's eyes staring into his soul as if the great Nancy herself possessed this strange bird. "If you were to give us a feather, what would you like us to give you in return?" he asks. Qiniao blinks (which makes Renjun surprised, the human didn't know he had eyelids), and looks at Hyo. The owl looks back at the potoo bird, and sighs when he gets what Qiniao wants. Hyo starts to ruffle his feathers, snapping Jisung out of his potoo trance and flies off of his shoulder. "Where's he going?" Jeno asks.</p><p>A few minutes pass by, and Hyo comes back with a dead moth in his mouth. Jisung screams upon seeing it and tries to run away from the owl to avoid him landing on his shoulder. "HYO NO! NO NO! GO LAND ON CHENLE'S SHOULDER!!" he screams. The owl still persists, and keeps chasing Jisung around the food vendors. </p><p>In the meanwhile, Jaemin turns to the tanghulu vendor and says "sexy" while handing him a 3,000 won bill. "He means he will take one tanghulu" Jeno translates with a eye smile. With Jisung screaming and running around the background (and making the floor into a ice rink), the vendor smiles at the sound of a customer wanting to buy something and happily takes the money. "Go ahead and play with Qiniao while you wait" he says, and gets to making the tanghulu. Jaemin and Jeno turns towards Qiniao who is sitting on his bird stand, staring at the sky, like a emotional character from a drama. "It looks so majestic" Chenle whispers. The group continues to stare at the bird, whilst Jisung is still running around, screaming for his life.</p><p>Eventually the fae gives up and walks back to the gang, panting with his shoulder's scrunched up to his neck. Hyo was perched on top of his head, the dead moth still hanging out of his beak. "Here you go you odd boy!" the vendor says to Jaemin, tanghulu in hand . The hybrid thanks the vendor with a "sexy" and accepts the fruit stick. He gives it to Jisung who takes it and thanks his hyung with a thumbs up. Hyo looks down at the skewer with curiosity, but gets stopped by Jaemin when the hybrid lets out a scolding "sexy!" </p><p>"Now that Hyo has this moth, will you give us the feather?" Renjun asks Qiniao. The bird blinks at Renjun, then at Hyo. </p><p>Then it lets out a call that sounded like this: </p><p>
  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlRsRdVpudM">"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM"</a>
</p><p>"Is that a yes or a sign that we should run" Mark asks. Renjun feels like its the latter, and puts his foot behind the other to get ready to dash out of there, but breathes a sigh of relief when Qiniao opens his large mouth. Hyo drops the moth into the bucket mouth, and the potoo bird closes it like a person closing a mailbox. He sits there for a moment, before digging through his chest, and pulling out one single grey feather with his beak. "He must've really like that moth! That's one of his favorite feathers ya know" the vendor says. Hyo accepts the feather by extending his neck from where he is on Jisung's head (which made the vendor scream, a strange reaction considering he's the one with the potoo bird). "OK, we're done! Good bye!" Chenle exclaims and skips over to the exit of the food section of the market. The rest of the group says their good byes, Mark and Renjun having to drag Donghyuck away from the potoo bird ("I love youu" the merman had whispered). Then, they go back to the car to continue their mission. </p><p>
  <i>Present Time</i>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <i>A Bus Driving Through Cherry Park</i>
</p><p>"That's a really smart bird, as expected of a creature from the grim reaper realm" Yangyang says. He adjusts one of the shopping bags he has on his lap and takes out a little pastry box with a egg tart in it, then takes the tart out. "Where we going next?" he asks while chewing. He snickers when Renjun makes a face. Yangyang is well aware of his friend's chewing while talking problem, but he still likes to make fun of it by doing it in front of the human. "We're going to District U. There's a really good Korean restaurant there, and the street market has a lot of good treats we could munch on." </p><p>"That sounds like a plan Renjuno!" Yangyang exclaims. He takes another bite of the egg tart. "In the meanwhile, tell me more about the mission! What did you find next? The pumpkin seed? The cheese?" Renjun winces at Yangyang's chewing methods, making the leprechaun goblin laugh again, then continues with the story. </p><p>"The next thing we retrieved, was the pumpkin seed." </p><p>
  <i>A Couple Weeks Ago</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Taeil's Flower Shop</i>
</p><p>"You guys have to remember I'm not a plant deity, I'm a water dragon." </p><p>Donghyuck pouts. "Well then why do you own a flower shop hm? That's very confusing for anyone who has met you for the first time!" the merman protests. Taeil blinks then shrugs his shoulders. "I dunno, it seemed like a good idea at the moment" he says. He puts a pot of roses back on a shelf, their heads lifted up high with pride after being taken care of by him. Roses aren't usually cocky even though the rumors say they are, but this pot in particular looked like the flower version of the Plastics. </p><p>Renjun squints at the little name tag Taeil made for them. Huh, would you look at that, their name are the Plastic Roses. </p><p>"Let's be honest hyung, out of anyone in this city, you should be the one to know where to buy a 12cm pumpkin seed" Jisung says as he walks up to the cashier. He and Chenle had decided to buy more nutrients for Lemon. I mean, they're in the flower shop, might as well just get it now. "I actually do know where you can buy them, but you gotta be a special farmer to get them" Taeil says as he's scanning the products. Jeno slowly brings his hands up and gestures to Renjun. "Will they take kindly to a plant elemental human?" he asks. Taeil looks up and shakes his head. "They don't take to kindly to plant faes and fairies, so I highly doubt they would like a elemental human to be there." </p><p>"I'm invalid!" Renjun shouts. Jaemin turns towards the human and gives him a mad pout. "Sexy!" he says in a scolding tone and gives a peck on Renjun's cheek. "I'm valid!" Renjun says after. Jaemin nods his head with a smile on his face, and hugs him. "Sexy" he says. Taeil doesn't bother to look up at the scene and gives Chenle and Jisung their receipt. "There is one way you can enter the farmer's market though" the dragon says. The group perks up, but Taeil doesn't answer them and just goes into the back. "Wait! What were you gonna say!?" Mark yells. After not hearing a response, the vampire starts to walk over to the door leading to backyard. He jumps back when Taeil comes out of the door with a pot of baby breaths, then follows the dragon when he went back into the yard. There was a moment of pause before Mark is the only one to come out from the back with a pot of hydrangeas. "So? What did he say?" Donghyuck asks. Mark puts the pot down. "He just handed these to me then locked the door" he says. </p><p>"We're just gonna have to find this farmer's market ourselves" Jeno says. Chenle looks over to the wolf. "But how are we gonna get in? We're no farmers!" Donghyuck snaps his fingers. "That's it! Farmers!" he exclaims. "Yeah, farmers, there's farmers at the farmer's market" Chenle says. Donghyuck shakes his head. "No, I meant what if we go there if WE were farmers?" he says. Jisung tilts his head to the side. "But we're not farmers" he says. Donghyuck nods his head. "Exactly." </p><p>"That's the problem we are trying to address! Keep up with the conversation hyung" Chenle says. Renjun sighs. "He meant we could disguise ourselves as farmers and sneak into the farmer's market" he explains. His friends all collectively stare at him as if he just said something insane. "What!? We can't do that!" Jeno says. "Yeah! That's never gonna work!" Donghyuck adds after. Renjun raises an eyebrow, and points to the merman. "But wasn't that what you were implying? You always come up with the idea of disguises any time we go on these missions." Donghyuck shakes his head. "But not as a farmer! No, no. Farmers in Neo City are too hard to replicate!" </p><p>"They have a great amount of magical energy that even you, a human, can feel" Taeil interrupts. He comes through the door with one pot of azaleas in one hand, and some marigolds in another. "Great! You're here! Now tell us how we're breaking into this market!" Donghyuck exclaims. Taeil puts the pots down, then opens a drawer of some kind behind the counter. "It's simple-" Taeil starts. He slaps some sunglasses and fake tattoos on to the table. "You're gonna threaten them into letting you guys in." </p><p>.</p><p>"Wait no hold on, put that period back to where it belongs!" Renjun says. "We are not gonna threaten these poor farmers."</p><p>"Huang, I don't know how the farmers are like in the human world, but the ones here are brutal" Donghyuck says. He suddenly was wearing a blazer and sunglasses with some leather gloves. "If we gotta get into this farmer's market, we gotta be brutal back." The merman puts his fist into the palms of his hand then throws Renjun a blazer. "Suit up Huang, and put that period back to be the transition into the next scene, cause it's go time." Jeno looks around the room, and whispers to Jaemin. "What period are they talking about?" Jaemin shrugs, and says "sexy." </p><p>.</p><p>Wow, Donghyuck wasn't kidding when he said that farmers are brutal. </p><p>They didn't even bat an eye at the 7 boys dressed up as the Korean mafia. Granted, the group looked very nonthreatening with their lousy cheap blazers Taeil had kept in his counter for no reason, and their tacky sunglasses, along with Chenle's random sword he pulled out of nowhere (he said he got from; THE HOLE HEHEHEHEHEHEHE) which you would think would look some what scary, but by the way the leprechaun is holding it, it was very clear that he didn't know one bit on how to handle the blade.</p><p>In fact, the farmers were the ones that were scaring the group, not the other way around.</p><p>"Is it too late to call Hyo back?" Mark whispers to Jisung. He could feel the stares of the farmers weighing down on them like two boulders smashing a baby chicken.</p><p>I mean chick.</p><p>"Hyo has to do grim reaper stuff, so we're stuck with what we got" Jisung whispers back. "How about we just call Robert and his District U animal friends? I mean they're undead, might as well scare them with some zombie creatures."</p><p>Mark shakes his head. "Robert wanted to rest with Geran and Pangxie today. He's gonna peck MY eyes out if we force him, or the other two to come here." </p><p>"How about we stop whispering and just look less like dorks without prom dates, and more like a hitmen ready to kill their target!" Donghyuck whisper shouts. Renjun shushes them, and gestures to walk over to the man at the booth. </p><p>The farmer's market was in a section next to the usual District U street market that was hidden away from the public eye. Taeil had to give the group a map so they could find it easily. There was a parking lot right in front of the entrance where the market sits in a long alleyway between two buildings (Renjun doesn't understand how that's possible, considering the plants these farmers are selling must need some sort of sunlight), with a gate blocking the entrance. At the gate was a toll booth with a very grumpy looking man sitting inside. Farmers of all species (most of them probably being wizards and witches considering how strong their magic aura are) are walking in and out of the gate without it being opened. All of them, were giving the group the stink eye.</p><p>"Why do they hate us so much!?" Renjun whispers as the group walks over to the toll booth. They tried to look as intimidating as they could, but it's obvious to the farmers and the group themselves that wasn't the case. "Farmers are very protective about their business, and they use a lot of magic to grow their crops. They literally gate keep the agriculture side of the economy in Neo City" Jeno explains. "That's why all of the agriculture majors at school are mega jerks. They're all children of farmers" Donghyuck adds. That makes sense. The last time Renjun had talked to a agriculture major, they glared at him as if he was the plague and shook a carrot in front of his face before sashaying off to wherever they need to go. The human couldn't eat a carrot for a week. </p><p>"Get out of here you snarky kids, farmers only" the man at the booth says as soon as the group approached him. He's been staring at them since they parked the car. Donghyuck slams his hand onto the surface of the booth and stares at the farmer in the eyes. He almost backs off when the farmer stares back, but the merman keeps strong. "Look here buddy, we ain't leaving until we get what we came here for" the merman says. The farmer raises his eyebrow. "Really, and what that might be? A passing grade on the last exam you just flunked?" </p><p>Ouch.</p><p>"YOU DON'T GET TO SAY THAT OLD MAN!" Donghyuck shouts. He backs away and takes off his sunglasses. "You don't get to say anything until you really took that exam. I mean honestly, why would I need to know about the history of the first man who retrieved the wind elemental when I don't need that in life!?" Renjun clears his throat. "Hyuck, not the time" he whispers. Donghyuck stops his rant, then gets his composure back. "Unfair grading aside, we need a 12cm pumpkin seed for our boss Kim Jungwoo back at District 127, got any of those chump?" he asks the booth man. </p><p>"No, get out." </p><p>"Oh come on! You gotta have like a one of those!" </p><p>"Get out, or else."</p><p>"Or else what, you're gonna use a growth talisman on me?" </p><p>The man pulls out his a orange fist in powerful mist. "Get out of here or else I'm callin the cops!" he roars. The group steps back in fear. "Understandable, have a nice day" Jeno says, and they all scuffle to the car in defeat.</p><p>Well except for Jaemin. </p><p>"Sexy!" he exclaims. The group turns around. Jaemin turns towards them and points to the man. "Sexy! Sexy!" he shouts. Renjun widens his eyes and nods. "He's right for Snufkin's sake!" he exclaims. The human marches over to the man at the booth and slams his hand down just like Donghyuck did. "Do ya have a permit or a legal document saying only farmers are allowed hm?" The man rolls his eyes. "Trying to play cop here? Look kids, you're not getting it so deal with it and scra-" </p><p>"No! I am not gonna scram! Unless you have a permit or a legal document stating that only those with the occupation as a farmer can walk into this market, you are presenting a heavy case of species discrimination! Which! Under Section 116 of the Species Rights Act of 1964; 'Under no circumstances are businesses, schools, or any part of Neo City will there be discrimination against those based on their species' You sir, along with your farmer friends, are eligible for a warranty of arrest and a court trial!" </p><p>"Damn Renjun, where did you learn all of that? I thought you said the laws in Neo City are confusing" Mark says. Renjun turns around. "Kun ge made me learn all of that ever since I got here" he responds, then turns back. The man stares at the human in shock, but quickly goes back into his cold stance. "Nice try, but we're not limiting people based on their species, we're limiting them on their occupation" the man says. Donghyuck claps his hands and struts to the front with Renjun. "Are plant faes and fairies allowed in the market?"</p><p>"No, they aren't" </p><p>"What if they're a farmer?" </p><p>"Plant faes and fairies can't be farmers, therefore they aren't allowed." </p><p>"On the contrary my bitch ass bald specimen!" Donghyuck exclaims. "We, the students of Neo University, have met many plant faes and fairies who are studying to become farmers, and who also have parents who are deep in the agriculture business!" The merman and Renjun smile when the man's expression turns from emotionless to panicked. "You! You don't have evidence to prove that!" the man exclaims. "However we do have plenty of witness accounts to share, plus we have a connection with a detective at the police station" Renjun says. "So either let us, and everyone else who isn't a farmer in, or go through a court trial that's gonna be very damaging for your little market there." </p><p>The man opens his mouth, but then closes it. He can't argue anymore, the pair already made a good point, one that could put the market in jeopardy. "Fine, go ahead" the man grumbles and opens the gates. The group smiles and exchange high fives before thanking the man and walking inside. "Let's make a mental note to still tell Yoonoh hyung about this though" Renjun whispers to Donghyuck. The merman nods his head. "Let's call him in the car." </p><p>.</p><p>Even if the group managed to get pass by the guard at the gate, they can't get pass by the vendors.</p><p>They all received hard stares as they walked through the market, especially towards Renjun. There's whispers here and there, something about Renjun being a human and how his plant elemental is going to steal their businesses and exploit it to the human world or something. Jaemin glares at the farmers who are staring, almost growling at them when they comment about Renjun. The human quietly intertwines his hand with the hybrid and whispers to him; "It's ok pup, ignore them. They're too close minded." Jisung hears all of it,  but doesn't mention anything. </p><p>When they found the 12cm pumpkin seed, the vendor, unsurprisingly and frustratingly so, refused to sell it to them. </p><p>"I'm not selling you my 12cm seeds to you boys unless one of you have a farmer's permit!" the woman exclaims. She was selling all sorts of 12cm seeds, but for now the boys focused on the pumpkin ones. "Oh come on! What's with you people and not letting non farmers into this market!?" Donghyuck complains. The woman hardens her stare. "BECAUSE, people like your friend here-" she points at Renjun specifically, "-don't realize how hard it is to cultivate our crops! They can do it in a snap, but WE have to keep using our magic and spells to keep them healthy!" Renjun crosses his arms. "You really wanna talk about farmers having a hard time, then think about the ones in the human world! They don't have anything to grow these plants from the ground instantly like you people! I mean sure they use genetically modified crops, but they still have to wait for a certain amount of time before they can harvest the damn things!" </p><p>"That's the thing about you humans, you always complain when you're the ones destroying the Earth! Besides, if we let in non farmers in what will that do to our business! People are gonna start their own stores and such by taking our supplies and using them as their own!" the woman argues back. Chenle shakes his head. "That won't really happen. In order to build a stock, store owners are gonna have to grow most of everything themselves, and not everyone's a wizard or witch. It's wiser to buy harvested crops from farmers like you for their stores, and it's a wiser decision to open up the market to non farmers, so you can economically grow through non farmer customers who need your crops for their stores. Think about how successful the street market at District V is. It's because they are doing the exact same thing that I have just said."  Jeno, Jisung, and Jaemin claps an applause while Donghyuck, Mark, and Renjun let out a "ooooooo." Chenle may not like associating with his family's business, but he still knows a few things here and there.</p><p>The woman, despite the logical reasoning, still doesn't budge. "What do you know kid!? I'm not selling these seeds to you!" she exclaims. </p><p>Suddenly Donghyuck starts to punch the palms of his hands. </p><p>"Donghyuck no, remember we are diplomats, not crusaders" Mark reminds. Donghyuck narrows his eyes and slowly lets his hands down. "If only Nancy were here, then we would've gone MY way." Mark pats the merman on the head. "Hyuck your way usually involves three ambulances, a trip to prison, and a therapist visit, I think we should make that into plan....Q." The woman lets out a hard laugh, scaring the group. "Is that your way of scaring me? HAH! Get out of here before I call security!" Jeno tuts. "You're not making this any easier lady! Sell us that pumpkin seed, or we'll have to go through OUR way!" </p><p>"You're challenging a ahjuma young man!?" </p><p>"Ye-..Well..n-no, I was, well-" </p><p>The woman sits back against her chair, satisfied. "Go back home, you don't belong here" she says. Jaemin furrows his eyebrows and clenches his fists. 

"Sexy" he says in a vicious tone. 

The group gasps. "Woah, woah, even if she's being the uncooperative person here, you can't say that!" Donghyuck says. Jaemin crosses his arms over his chest. "Sexy! Sexy, sexy, sexy. Sexy, sexy, sexy, sexy!" he says. Renjun put his hands on the hybrid's arms. "Even then you can't curse like that! That's very rude!" he says. </p><p>"HOW ABOUT JUST THROWING HER INTO THE HOLE!?" Chenle screams in a squat. "THAT'LL SOLVE ALL OF OUR PROBLEMS HMMMMMM??" Mark shakes his head. "Chenle we can't give up the location of the hole, it's a super secret super hole remember?" he says. Chenle pouts. "BUT THE HOLEEEEE." </p><p>Jisung sneezes and freezes Jeno to the floor. They both look up at each other, then all of the sudden Jeno starts to cry. "Oh, no, wait, no hyung" Jisung says. The wolf wails out loud, causing Jaemin to stop ranting, and look at Jeno. They make eye contact, then all of the sudden, Jaemin starts to weep as well. "Jisung! What did you do!" Renjun scolds. Jisung shakes his head and puts his hands up. "I just sneezed!" he says. </p><p>"Well you should've held it in!" Renjun yells. </p><p>"Hyung I have rhinitis! I can't just HOLD IT IN!!" Jisung yells back.</p><p>"GREAT, WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO ABOUT THE ECONOMY!? WE NEED STOCKS!" Donghyuck shouts.</p><p>"STONKS?? I LIKE STONKS!! LETS THROW THEM INTO THE HOLEEE" Chenle screams. </p><p>Jeno and Jaemin stand there with their mouths open, as if they were a potoo bird. </p><p>"MARK HYUNG!!" the group suddenly shouts together in unison after their screaming session. </p><p>Mark, did not say anything and just stared at his friends at awe. Yes, these are the very people who fought against the DokZuZhi like a month ago. These very people, the ones who were just screaming about stocks and the respiratory system, along with letting out a silent wail, threw four members of the Jo family into prison. At this rate, the public must be more scared of them then the DokZuZhi themselves. </p><p>He turns towards the woman, who also stares at the chaotic mess in shock, with her jaw wide open. The vampire turns back to his friends and gestures for Donghyuck to give him the money. The merman refuses, but after a 3 second staring contest, Donghyuck slaps the won bills into Mark's hand. Mark then turns around and slowly puts a won bill onto the table and accepts a 12cm pumpkin seed from the woman before thanking her and apologizing. When he turns back around, the vampire nods towards his friends to come with him to the car, to which the group complies. Renjun takes Jaemin's hand and leads him through the fearful stares of the vendors, while Jisung frees a frozen Jeno Samyoed from his icy captivity, and walks with him to catch up to their friends. </p><p>Well at least they got what they wanted.</p><p>
  <i>Present Time</i>
</p><p>
  <i>District U Farmer's Market</i>
</p><p>"Woah! So this place is open to the public because of you guys?" Yangyang asks. Renjun shakes his head. "No not really. They still wouldn't open the place up to non farmers and plant faes and fairies, so we had to ask our friend at the police station to do some arresty arresties, which ended up in a court trial and the opening of the market." </p><p>Yangyang gives Renjun a applause. "You're doing good things Huang, good things. Ah, this reminds me of the time when we saved the city library from being destroyed so they can build that stupid strip mall. I mean, don't these people think of anything else other then money??" Renjun and Yangyang had gone through some activism things during their youth, so it makes sense for the human now to stand up for what he truly believes in. "Ah yes I remember that, gosh I think that's the first time we had to go up against the city hall! Before that, we had to fight with the school board!" Renjun reminisces. Yangyang thinks for a bit and nods his head. "Ohhh yeah! Oof, it was so scary, but it paid off in the end!" </p><p>They walk around the market for a while before Yangyang stops before a strawberry booth. After he purchased some of them sweet berries, he talks to Renjun more about the market itself. "Wouldn't it be detrimental to the business at the District V Street Market though?" He asks. "They both sell similar things by similar people." Renjun takes a strawberry and takes a bite out of the juicy fruit. "Actually it isn't" he says after he swallows. "The street market at District V is more of a variety of things while the farmer's market here is only fruits and vegetables. Plus, the District V street market only sells ordinary fruits and vegetables while they sell magical ones here, like this talking squash for example." The pair stops in front of a yellow squash that comically looks like something from the Cloudy Chance with a Meatballs 2.</p><p>"Hello talking squash" Renjun greets. </p><p>"Hellu!" the talking squash greets back. </p><p>Renjun and Yangyang stare at the squash for a while before the leprechaun goblin leans over to Renjun and whispers; "how much do you think this little guy is?" Renjun turns towards him. "Liu Yangyang, do you not know how much you need to care for a talking squash!? You must give it care, feed it, and give it lots of sunlight! Plus you're gonna be raising it the human world, and you need magical properties to make it happy." </p><p>"Squash!"</p><p>"Yes talking squash, you are a squash." </p><p>"Squash~" </p><p>Yangyang doesn't say anything and just sighs. "You're right, but I will come back and purchase a talking squash when I'm ready." Renjun and Yangyang say their good byes to the talking squash, then head on deeper into the market. "So, tell me about the last item, the cheese. I'm curious as to how you got a brie cheese imported from France but not by ship, car, truck, plane, bicycle, or motorcycle." Renjun laughs and snaps his fingers. "Oh that my friend, is the grand finale to this story." </p><p>
  <i>A Couple Weeks Ago</i>
</p><p>
  <i>A Drive Through Cherry Park to District Dream</i>
</p><p>Johnny had called the group back to District Dream, saying he has a lead for them and their cheese.</p><p>"Could he have found a vendor of some sort?" Jisung asks. Mark shrugs. "That's what he told me. He said to meet him on the beach." Mark parks the van in the beach's parking lot. The group gets out and sees Johnny walking around with a fishing net. The wolf sense their arrival and perks up. "Yo!" the tall man greets. "How's your mission going?" </p><p>"Great! We found two out of the three items on the list, and now we just gotta get that cheese" Chenle says. Johnny smiles and puts a thumbs up. "Good, cause I got just the being to show you where you can purchase it." He leads them to a certain part of the beach, near the pier where one could jump off into to go to Dream City. "She said she's gonna arrive any moment so just give it a sec" Johnny says. Thus, they wait for said moment until a voice catches their ears. </p><p>"Hello" </p><p>The group looks around. "H-hello?" Mark greets. There was no one around them. The closet people to them were Johnny and a couple of tourists lounging on the beach, watching the famous District Dream sunset. </p><p>"I'm down here." </p><p>Renjun looks down to the ground, and scans it until his eyes meet a blue fish poking her head out of the water. She had the tinest spectacles on her face, and a clip on neck tie on her chest. The rest of the group looks down and screams upon seeing the fish. "DID THAT FISH JUST TALK!?!" Chenle yells. He jumped onto Jisung and now both of them are holding on to each other for dear life. Renjun looks at his friends and raises an eyebrow. All of them were shocked to see a fish talk, even Donghyuck. "Yeah I got surprised too, but apparently Ms. Boongeo said she can help you with the cheese thing" Johnny says nonchalantly. Renjun turns towards Johnny. "Wait I'm confused, why is everyone so shocked about the talking fish?" he asks. He turns towards Donghyuck. "Why are YOU so surprised?" he asks. </p><p>"Because Huang, animals don't TALK in Neo City! You should know that by now considering you're from the human world!" Donghyuck whisper shouts. He may be shocked, but he doesn't want to offend the poor fish who's just sitting there. "Well when you think about it, everything in Neo City compared to the stuff in the human world is much more shocking then a talking fish, we live in a supernatural city for Moomin Mama's sake!" Renjun exclaims. </p><p>"If I may-" </p><p>The group turns their attention to the fish. "-the human's right, we, along with other animals, are able to talk. We just live in a separate part of the city then you folks so you may not realize it" the fish says. "Where do you live?" Jeno asks. "We live just a mile away from Dream City" the fish responds. Donghyuck drops his jaw and runs up to the fish. "Really? Oh my god, this is my first time hearing this!" he exclaims. Renjun groans in frustration. "Lee, you're half fish!" he screams. He doesn't understand why the group is so shocked about hearing this. Donghyuck is half fish, Jeno, and Johnny are dogs, Mark is a bat, and Jaemin is half dog half bat! If anyone is going to be like, "yeah this is completely normal", it should be them!!</p><p>"Don't talk about supernatural biology Huang, you know that shit's confusing!" Donghyuck screams back. He turns back to the fish. "So uh, do we just follow you to where we need to go or..." The fish nods (nods? Can fish nod?). "Yes, yes. I would say that you could make the purchase here and I can bring up the product to you, but I feel like you might wanna come down here and see what our options are like" the fish explains. "Well we got one problem" Mark says. "Hyuck's the only one who can breathe underwater, and we don't have underwater breathing potions with us right now." </p><p>"There IS one way though" Donghyuck says with his back turned. It looks very suspicious and scary and Renjun's got the feeling he should get a head start in running. The merman turns around. "I could give all of y'all a, smooch, smooch." </p><p>Renjun starts running. </p><p>And Jeno and Jisung follows. </p><p>Donghyuck, surprisingly, doesn't follow them and just asks Johnny to get them for him. "We'll be at the pier Ms. Fish" Donghyuck says. "Wonderful, I will see you there" the fish says, and ducks her head back into the water. The merman then, after Johnny goes off running for his first hitman job target, Donghyuck takes Chenle's and Jaemin's hands and tells Mark to come follow. "Why do ya gotta smooch us hyung?" Chenle asks as he's being dragged. He and Jaemin don't really particularly care about being smooched, its the other three that's the problem. "This is how merpeople used to give underwater breathing abilities to the people on the surface back in the day" Donghyuck explains. "It has the same properties as a underwater breathing potion, but it sucks out all of my energy so that's why I asked Johnny hyung to go chase the gremlins." Mark frowns. "Are you going to be ok Hyuck?" he asks as they reached to the end of the pier. "I'm sure I'll be fine. I'll just be very sleepy." Donghyuck takes a look at Mark's frown and smiles. He walks over and gives him a peck on the cheek. "Don't worry about it Markie, it'll be fine. I can take a nap in the car when we're done" he says. Mark sighs. "Fine, but if you fall I'll be there to carry you." Donghyuck smiles. "And I'll gladly appreciate that." At the end of their conversation, Johnny comes walking back with a Renjun, Jisung, and a Samoyed in his arms. "Got them boss" the wolf says. Donghyuck claps his hands together. "Great! Let us begin the smoochies!" </p><p>First Donghyuck smooches Mark, and lets him go into the water, then Chenle. When it came to Jaemin, Donghyuck had to make an agreement first. "You both must promise me that you will not gouge my eyes out for kissing your significant other" Donghyuck says to Renjun and Jaemin. "This is purely for survival purposes." Jaemin and Renjun share a glance. Renjun nods, and Jaemin nods back, giving their consent. Then Jaemin looks at the merman and narrows his eyes. "Sexy" he says. Donghyuck nods his head. "Yes, yes no funny business, we got a deal?" the merman asks with his hand out. "Sexy" Jaemin says and shakes Donghyuck's hand. They exchange a smooch and Jaemin jumps into the water. "Woo! Feeling woozy, that's not good!" Donghyuck exclaims.</p><p>At this time Johnny lets Renjun, Jeno, and Jisung down. "I'll be waiting at the booth if you guys need me" Johnny says, and walks off of the pier. Renjun, Jeno, and Jisung in the meanwhile walk up to Donghyuck. "Are you ok? We can ask Dongsook to give us some potions if you want" Renjun says. Donghyuck shakes his head. "No, no, I'm fine. Mark hyung said he's gonna carry me" he says. Donghyuck give a smooch to Renjun, then a smooch to Jisung. "Jeno change your form, I'm not gonna smooch you in your dog form" Donghyuck says. Jeno sighs then changes back to accept his smooch, then jumps into the water with the merman where the rest of the group and the fish are waiting for them. Donghyuck in particular fell in a little too hard and almost lost balance as soon as his legs turned into his tail. "Woah, I got you Hyuck" Mark says softly, and lets Donghyuck fall into his arms. The merman sighs and rests his head on Mark's chest. "Mmm, it's a cozy Markie." </p><p>"Don't worry folks, we'll be in and out" the fish says, and gestures the group to follow her quickly to her fishy city. </p><p>.</p><p>The group looks at the fish city in awe as Ms. Boongeo led them into the entrance. "Welcome to Eo City gentlemen. Let me take you to our cheese vendor quickly, before your friend runs out of more energy" the fish says.</p><p>Eo City looked very similar to Dream City. Bold colors of blue and purple shone from half sphere buildings. Fishes swam past each other, greeting their fellow fishymen and staring at the non fish people swimming through the city. "OooOOOO, PrETtY ColoRS, TheEY LOoK juST liKe seA pIGs" Donghyuck exclaims, then he passes out snoring in Mark's arms. "Is he gonna be doing that until we get to the car?" Jeno asks while looking at the sleeping merman. Mark shrugs. "That might be a possibility." Ms. Boongeo leads them through the street into a mini street market. Instead of the sound of chatter and yelling as it always is in the street markets on the surface, the fish vendors instead talked in bubbles and blubs making Renjun almost loose composure and laugh out loud. </p><p>The fish lady stops at a particular stand. A red fish sat in its little chair behind a table with a array of cheeses that has been imported from France, not by ship, car, truck, plane, bicycle, or motorcycle, but by the very fins of a fish trader. "Ah Ms. Boongeo! What brings you to my stand?" the red fish says. Surprisingly, it was not in blubs. "These people from the surface are looking for brie cheese imported from France but not by ship, car, truck, plane, bicycle, or motorcycle, so I have taken them here." The red fish throws a thumbs up with his fin. "Then you came to the right place!" He takes out a large wedge of cheese and slaps it onto his table. "This one is a special one, and I'll give it to you since you are special customers" the red fish says. Renjun nods his head. "How much is it?" he asks. "The original price is usually 85 clams, but I'll give you a discount and lower it by 20 clams" the red fish says. Clams? Well duh, of course they don't take won! They're fish! Renjun should've thought of that before he went into the water. </p><p>The human shares anxious glances with his friends. "Uh sorry to say sir, but we don't have clams" Jeno says. The red fish crosses his fins. "No clams? Well I'm sorry, then I cannot sell this cheese to you." He starts to put away the cheese before Renjun stops him. "Wati!" he exclaims. The red fish stops midair. "We many not have clams, but we got won bills, is that enough?" he asks. The red fish shakes his head. "Our economy is different from yours my dear human, so you gotta have our currency to buy something here." Chenle swims to the front. "Is there anything else you're willing to trade for though?" he asks. "Like a pearl, or a really nice looking seashell." </p><p>"mMMMmm, I liKEy seAShelLLS" Donghyuck exclaims before falling back asleep.</p><p>The red fish eyes the merman with confusion, then looks back at the leprechaun. "I suppose you can trade the cheese in for a performance of a song or something. I am very bored, so I need something to entertain me." Chenle smiles, then snaps his fingers. "Of course! We can perform the Mr. Spiffy song for you!" Jisung leans into Chenle's side. "Le, are you sure? The Mr. Spiffy song isn't for the lightest of heart" he whispers. Chenle turns his head. "It'll be finnee, besides, I bet it can get us two blocks of cheese!" he whispers back. He turns to his friends and says out loud; "let us prepare!" </p><p>What happens next is a performance that no fish has seen. With Jaemin, Jeno, and Jisung dancing in the middle, Chenle and Renjun handling the vocals, and Mark bopping up in down with Donghyuck in his arms (who added some du, du, dus once in a while), the group gives a riveting performance of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQdiW1pgFAc&amp;t=554s">Mr. Spify Song</a> from the Backyardigans.</p><p>"My name, is Spiffy"</p><p>"Mr. Spiffy!"</p><p>"It's also the name of my club" </p><p>"The Spiffy Club!"</p><p>"I'll check your house out, in a jiffy"</p><p>"Oh so quickly!"</p><p>"So don't forget to mop, and clean, and scrub" </p><p>All of the fishes of the street market were entranced. At the end, they give a great applause that sounded like someone was slapping a bunch of wet fish together in the middle of a fish market. </p><p>"That was wonderful boys! Here! Take the cheese! You've earned it!" the red fish vendor says. The group thanks the red fish as Renjun accepts the block from him. "Now that you have received what you have came for, it is time for one more thing" Ms. Booneo says. Renjun adjusts the cheese under his arm. "What is it?" he asks. The smile from Ms. Boongeo's face and the other fishes suddenly vanish. The vendors and customers bring out pitchforks, shovels (that were honestly just plastic spoons and forks), and pieces of glass (ok that one is pretty terrifying) and start to growl (do fishes growl? Renjun doesn't know, but that's the closest he can describe what he's hearing right now).</p><p>"It's time for you to be executed" Ms. Boongeo says with a dark expression on her face. </p><p>"What? Where? When? How? W-why?" Jeno asks. </p><p>"Right here, right now, with our weapons, and because, </p><p>we </p><p>hate</p><p>non</p><p>fish</p><p>people" Ms. Boongeo answers. </p><p>Thus, the group engages in a chase, them being the prey and the hundreds and hundreds of fishes being their predator. "Oh go with this fish he said! It'll be fun he said!" Chenle shouts. "Less complaining, more swimming!" Mark yells. He yelps when a salad fork is thrown near his ear. He watches with his jaw open when the fork hits a rock and disintegrates it immeaditly. "Magic utensils! Magic utensils!!" Jeno yells. Renjun looks behind with the cheese in his arm, and screams when a fish was right near his face. He smacks the fish out of the way and grabs Jaemin's hand so that he can catch up with the group.</p><p>"Hyuck! Hyuck!" Renjun yells. The merman lets out a sudden snore, and opens his eyes. "oOOOoOO, diD wE wiN?" he asks. "No, but can you blow for a bit?" Jeno yells. Donghyuck tilts his head and looks up at Mark. "bLOW? likE hUuUUUuuu?" Mark nods his head. "Yes, yes, hUuuuuuuuu, do it now cause we kinda need it!" Donghyuck gives a lazy laugh and pecks Mark's chin. "oKiE" he says. As Donghyuck begins to take a deep breath, Mark calls the others to hang onto him. Then, Donghyuck uses his elemental and blows, pushing the group away from the fishes at a good distance through the water. When he runs out of breath, he says, "Thank you for using Donghyuck Train Services" then immeaditly falls back to snoring. </p><p>The group takes a sigh of relief knowing that they are far from the fishes. Though, that lasted for three seconds before a spoon flies near Jisung's feet and disintegrates a coral branch. "Oh we're gonna die" the fae says. The uproar of blubs makes the groups turn their heads to now thousands of fishes (where did the other fishes come from? What are these fishes exactly???) comes towards them at the speed of light. "Rock, Rock, ROCK!!" Renjun gestures. Chenle snaps out of his fascination of the fishes and lifts a large rock from the sea floor. The group jumps onto the rock, and Renjun creates a shield around it, leaving a little hole for Jisung to blast them out of there with his ice rocket blasters. </p><p>The fishes though, catch up to the group and began poking at the shield by throwing their utensils and glass pieces at the purple bubble. The group screams at each utensil, and Jisung might've accidentally froze some fish with his blasters when some of them tried to go into the hole. "WHAT DID WE DO WRONG!?!!" Jeno yells from inside of the bubble. He screeches when a rock comes flying towards the shield. "SINCE WHEN DID THEY HAVE THE STRENGTH TO THROW THOSE??" Renjun exclaims. "SEXY!!" Jaemin says after. </p><p>Sooner or later, Mark makes a grave discovery.</p><p>"PIER! PIER! PIER!" he yells.</p><p>The group turns around and becomes alarmed to see the legs of the pier coming closer at a fast rate. If they keep going, they'll crash into the poles, break the shield, and become fish dinner. "JISUNG UP! UP! UP!" Renjun yells. "uP, Up, UP!" Donghyuck suddenly says. Renjun lowers the hole and Jisung shoots the blasters through it, making the rock shoot upwards out of the water. "BACK! BACK! SHOOT IT BACK,SHOOT IT BACK!!!" Mark yells as they're in the air. Renjun quickly moves the hole back to where it was, and Jisung uses his last bit of energy to blow towards the beach. The group lets out a large "AHHHHHHHH" and crash into the sand face first, the cheese bouncing off of Renjun's head before rolling towards Mark's ear. "Way to stick the landing!" Taeil shouts from a far. He was sitting in a beach chair with Johnny and Jungwoo sipping on some wine.</p><p>Those bastards. </p><p>The fishes soon caught up and tried to go out of the water, but immeaditly choke from the lack of H2O. "STAY OUR OF OUR CITY YOU *cough* VERMINS!!* *choke*" the red fish vendor shouts. The sea creatures all retreat back into the water, and go back to where they were, letting the group live by their mercy. "Good job guys! I'll give you your money plus some sandwiches!" Jungwoo yells from his beach chair. The group lets out a deflated "yayyy" from where they were and lay there before Taeil splashes them with a large water sphere. </p><p>
  <i>Present Time</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Dream City Beach</i>
</p><p>Yangyang claps a applause as Renjun had completed his story. "That really was a heavy one! Dang, now I kinda wish I went to Neo University." Renjun laughs. "I wish you did too, you would've done great in our Mr. Spiffy performance. Maybe you could've convinced the fishes not to kill us." Yangyang smiles and shakes his head. "No, no, if it were me, I would sing Schnappi Das Kleine Krokodil" he says before breaking into the song while bopping up and down. Renjun participates by bopping up and down with him while clapping. When they finish, they hear a cheer from the bingsoo stand. "Wooo! Encore! Encore!" Johnny yells. Yangyang turns around and gives a bow and a big smile towards the wolf. "Let's get some bingsoo, it's really good" Renjun invites. "Sure!" Yangyang responds and follows the human to the stand. </p><p>After purchasing the bingsoo, Yangyang converses with Johnny for a while, getting excited that he met THE Johnny from Renjun's story. "How did that fish come up to you? Was it just random and out of nowhere?" the leprechaun goblin asks. "Yeah! She just popped out of the water when I was scooping some trash! I think she was trying to lure me to the fish city, but accidentally sent the boys instead." Renjun chokes on his scoop of ice. "Yeah thanks for sacrificing us hyung" he says sarcastically. Johnny gives Renjun a wink, and two finger guns before continuing the conversation. They talk until the day slowly turned into the night, and the sun has finally said its good byes and the moon has greeted the city. </p><p>"Well, it was nice to get to know you Yangyang, I gotta close up shop, but let's talk more later" Johnny says. "Oh definitely! Let's try a conversation in English!" Yangyang says. Johnny raises an eyebrow. "English? Do you know how to speak?" he asks. Renjun nods. "He stayed in America for a while, left me alone all throughout 4th to 5th grade." Yangyang pouts and turns to Renjun. "I said I'm sorry Renjunooo, it's was against my will!" Renjun giggles and pats Yangyang as a shoulder. "I was joking" he laughs. </p><p>At that, Renjun and Yangyang say their final good byes to Johnny before walking back to the bus station. Before they got further though, Johnny suddenly calls Yangyang's name. </p><p>"Yangyang! Wait!" </p><p>Yangyang and Renjun turns around. "Yeah?" he shouts back. </p><p>"나중에, 너 집으로 돌아갈때, 꼭 다시 Korea로 돌아오는티켓을 예약해." </p><p>Renjun furrows his eyebrows. "Dang it, he's talking in English" he thinks. He could only understand "Korea" and "ticket" but that was it. Though, he could tell it was something serious cause the expression on Johnny's face was a rare one, the only kind when he is helping the group fight the DokZuZhi. Yangyang on the other hand, becomes confused and tilts his head. </p><p>"Why?" he says back in English. </p><p>"내 말이 믿어, 너 알잖아, 나 저승사자 친구있다고." Johnny responds. </p><p>Yangyang nods his head and shouts back; "Yes! Johnny씨가 지금 말씀 하셨자나요!" </p><p>Renjun sighs. He wished he looked at that English dictionary Mark gave to him for his birthday (it was a joke present, but Renjun kept it just in case). </p><p>"방금 내 저승사자 친구랑 용왕 친구가 알려줬는데, Renjun이랑 그의 친구가 위험할꺼래." </p><p>"He said my name!" Renjun thinks. "Are they gossiping about me now??" Apparently so, cause Yangyang widened his eyes. Gosh, what did Johnny spill the beans about? That he held Pangxie's birthday party and no one came? Well that was supposed to be a secret between the both of them and now the human is upset. </p><p>"뭐라고요? 아니, 그럼 저 Korea-"</p><p>"걱정하지마. 나 믿고 얼른 티켓 예약해" </p><p>It's strange to listen to a conversation where Renjun doesn't understand. He feels bad for his other friends whenever he and Chenle bicker in Chinese.</p><p>"아, 그러면 지금 바로 예약 할께요." </p><p>"Thank you." </p><p>Yangyang thanks Johnny back and waves a good bye to him before catching up with Renjun. "Hey what was that all about? You seemed so serious" Renjun laughs. There was a moment of hesitation on Yangyang's face before it changes into his usual gigantic smile. "Oh, Johnny hyung was just telling me about the tickets going back to China. Apparently the flight I was planning to take went bonkers. It was confusing, but he told me that there's someone he knows that can help me." Renjun tilts his head. "Why'd he say my name?" he asks. </p><p>"Oh, he said you can be my translator for all of the harder Korean words" Yangyang says brightly. Renjun raises an eyebrow and sighs. "I don't think I can help you with that, but I definitely bring one of my friends to help." Yangyang nods. "Yes! Thanks dude" he says. </p><p>They go through the rest of the night until they separate and go to their respective places to slumber.</p><p>As Renjun is in the elevator in his dorm. He sighs.</p><p>"That was a utter complete lie."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I want a talking squash :(</p><p>And to anyone who was confused about the whole Korean bit, in the story, the characters are actually talking in Korean, and as the story is in Renjun's perspective, I wanted to use a language to represent the "English" conversation that not all readers may know, similarly to how Renjun's character may not know English. </p><p>The few words in English in the Korean sentences are what Renjun understands, similarly how one would only catch a few words in a language they know little in or they are learning about. </p><p>Hope that cleared that up for some of you huhu</p><p>Thanks for reading, and look out for the next arc! </p><p>
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